Hello Everyone and thank you for watching. This is Gia with Palm Beach Premier Real Estate here in Boca Raton Florida with your 2-minutelocal market report for DECEMBER 2018.

So here’s a quick take on the numbers that came out from the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches

The message from your team here at Palm Beach Premier Real Estate this month is:

Sales Slowdown Indicates Housing Cycle Has Peaked. Buyers Market Ahead

So let’s take a closer look at the local internal real estate market numbers…. What we’re seeing is the following:

The median sales price of a single family home in Palm Beach Countywas $344,700 …..down slightly from the higher prices of earlier this year.
The number of housing units soldwasdown sharply from the same month last year further indicating a market slowdown.
The inventory of homes for sale in Palm Beach County ,increased to a 5.1-month supply of houses on the market. So you know, 6 months is considered to be a balanced market. There were 7,344 houses for sale in December, an increase overthe same periodone year ago.
Trends were a little different in the condo and townhouse market. The typical Palm Beach County condo that sold in December fetched $179,750
Luxury homes are continuing to take significantly longer to sell.
Rising interest rates (we had 4 rate increasesin 2018) are beginning to bite into the first time homebuyer segment of the market as well as move-up buyers.How many more rate increasesby the Federal Reserve for 2019 is anyone’s guess at this point depending on the severity of the wider economic slowdown.

Now on a national level, recent data this past week included existing home sales down 6.5% - the largest drop in about 10 years
Homebuilder stocks continue to take a beating since equity markets peaked in early October further indicating the weakness in that sector.
The yield curve is flattening with the distinct possibility of an inverted yield curve on the horizon which has traditionally been a warning of a recession ahead.
Equity markets have all recently been in correction territory with many companies now announcing slowing growth worldwide.

So …as we continue to look for clear trends and real estate market changes….our summary takeaways remain the same

Housing Affordability Issues due to high prices and rising interest rates coupled with slow wage growth
A continued shortage of single family home inventory continues to create headwinds for the housing markets
Still behind on new construction which is not keeping up with demand adding further pressure, coupled with significantly higher costs to build (specifically…..land, wages, materials and interest costs). …..Homebuilders are therefore constructing higher priced units in order to respond to both increased demand and building cost concerns as well as having to offer larger incentives to move their inventory.
Increasing Interest Rate environment with 30-year mortgage rate predictions taking us well above 5% in 2019 – representing the highest levels in over 10 years … another significant headwind for the market to absorb.
Finally, the sales slowdown indicates the inevitable transition to a Buyers market that we have been talking about for some months now with price declines and increasing inventory levels along with properties sitting on the market for extended periods of time.

Going forward we will definitely be keeping a continued close watch on prices, interest rates, inventory levels and the number of closed sales.

If you’ve been considering taking advantage of the strength in the marketplace – now is agreat time to sellJ …

Please give us a call for a confidential consultation at 561.395.8418 or email us at Info@PBPrealestate.com - we’re here to help!

As always we look forward to speaking with you. Thank you for watching. We’ll see you next time…. J