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Newest Figures Show New Home Prices Gain, Sales Drop in Ocala

Posted on: May 06, 2013 07:26:30 AM

In the Ocala, FL market, new home closings dropped year-over-year in February, but compared with January 2013, the percentage decline was less steep, hinting the market may be strengthening. Closings slumped 17.2% from a year earlier to 24. In comparison, new home closings in the same month last year saw a 20.8% decline year-over-year in January.

A total of 250 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in February, down from 255 for the year that ended in January.

Moving south from a year earlier, new home closings in February 2013 made up 4.3% of overall housing closings, while the year-ago figure was 6.1%. Closings of new and existing homes climbed year-over-year in February after also rising in January year-over-year.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

The average per-unit price of new homes grew in February to $215,773, up by 16.6% from a year earlier. This is a turnaround from the 2.9% decline in January from a year earlier.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size jumped year-over-year along with new home prices. In February 2013, average mortgage size rose 20.9% from a year earlier to $161,884. In January 2013, average mortgage size slid 12.9% from a year earlier. For new home closings, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed increased 2.7 percentage points year-over-year to 75.0% in February 2013. In January 2013, there was an 8.0 percentage point decline in January from a year earlier.

Other Market Trends

There was no change in the composition of the new-home market with regard to the types of properties sold in February 2013. Single-family home closings have represented all of new home closings while attached unit closings have accounted for no part of closings.

The average unit size of newly sold homes rose 9.6% year-over-year to 1,795 square feet in February 2013. In January, the average size of new homes sold went from 1,590 square feet a year earlier to 1,441 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) closings remained a burden on the market. Combined, foreclosures plus REO closings made up 42.6% of existing home closings. In February 2012, they represented 48.3%. The percentage of existing home closings involving foreclosures went from 23.3% in February 2012 to 24.1% in February 2013 and REO closings as a percentage of existing home closings declined to 18.6% from 25.1% a year earlier.

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