If you read the papers, listens to the news, or talk to friends, neighbors and acquaintences about the real estate market, you could be very confused as to what is “real” about it.
- Foreclosures and short sales are still high.
- Unemployment is still high and actually rose more vs. high and dropping.
- Inventory is still high.
Yet, week after week, our EWM office in Coral Gables is selling more than we are listing. This week alone, we had over $28,000,000 (yes, that is million and it was closer to $29) in sales and leases, the majority in sales. We had 29 sales vs 8 sale listings. What is even more amazing about the sales in our office this week:
- 11 of them (38%) were over $500,000 vs 9 that were under$300,000, which is where most of the market has been this year;
- 7 of them were over $1,000,000 so the high end market is starting to move.
What is especially important in these numbers is that the higher end sales are not relying on the first time home buyers tax credit, since they don’t qualify, and they are buying anyway. This leads me to believe that the real estate market is starting to stabilize, especially in certain areas.