Drew Dixon
One of the few industries thriving during the coronavirus era in Northeast Florida is real estate.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors reports home sales are on an impressive upward trend. There were 3,021 homes sold on the First Coast in June, up by 684 home sales in May when 2,337 residential properties were sold.
This June’s home sales were just three short of the number of homes sold in June, 2019. NEFAR officials also noted this June’s sales tally was the best month of home sales in the Northeast Florida region in a year when 3,035 residential properties were sold in July, 2019.
The news comes as Jacksonville set a daily record of 840 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday and the First Coast approaches 20,000 total cases for the region, according to Florida Department of Health data released Thursday.
NEFAR President Ron Harris said the pandemic seems to have infused the First Coast housing market with high demand as many homes are selling for more than the original asking price.
“Despite COVID-19, consumers are demonstrating pent-up demand for homes and taking advantage of low interest rates. Sellers are capitalizing on robust sales prices and the lowest inventory in years, with 13.5% of June sales going for more than the original listing price,” Harris said.
Not only are sales exceeding some expectations in price, the value of homes for sale in Northeast Florida shows no signs of receding. The median price for a First Coast home in June was $255,000, up by 5.4% over June, 2019. The average price also jumped, going up 4.4% from a year ago to $310,822 per home.
Those prices will not likely go down anytime soon since demand remains high while the availability of homes for sale on the First Coast is shrinking. The inventory of homes for sale declined in June. In short, it’s a seller’s market.
There were a total of 7,545 homes for sale in the Northeast Florida region in June. That’s down a whopping 24.1% from June, 2019. There were 3,515 new homes for sale listed on the First Coast in June, that’s down 1.2% from a year ago.
That’s the lowest inventory of homes for sale on the First Coast since before 2009, when the nation was in the throes of the Great Recession., NEFAR officials said.
