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Lakeland, FL - Newest Figures for New Home Sales Suggest Market Climb Losing Steam

Posted on: Feb 06, 2012 09:27:39 AM

There was a rise in sales of new homes in the Lakeland, FL market in November year-over-year, but with an increase less steep than that of October 2011, the market seemed to be showing signs of stabilizing. New home sales saw a hike of 38.5% from the year earlier to 108 after sales gained 43.7% in October from the year earlier.

A total of 1,014 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, up from 984 for the year that ended in October.

New home sales represented 13.5% of overall housing sales. This marks a rise from 10.1% of total sales a year earlier. Following a fall in October year-over-year, sales of new and existing homes rose year-over-year in November.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

In November, the average price of newly sold homes declined 9.8% year-over-year to $168,350 per unit. This is a swing down from the 11.4% hike in October year-over-year.

The average mortgage size on new homes moved north year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. It increased 2.4% in November from a year earlier to $102,985. In October 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 10.7% decline from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed rose 7.3 percentage points year-over-year to 61.2% in November 2011. This came after a 15.8 percentage point drop in October from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

As a percentage of new home sales, attached unit sales have climbed from last year while single-family home sales have dropped. The share of new home sales belonging to attached units increased from 5.1% of sales in November 2010 to 8.3% of sales in November 2011. At the same time, the share belonging to single-family homes declined to 91.7% of sales from 94.9% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size grew 21.2% year-over-year to 1,665 square feet in November 2011. This rise was opposite the price decline, a pattern also seen in October 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes increased 5.5% to 1,525 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales decreased in November from a year earlier, but stayed a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales made up 44.9% of existing home sales, down from 67.8% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures fell to 28.6% in November from 32.8% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales slid to 16.3% from 35.1% a year earlier.

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