Title

Pinellas County homes: Sales up, prices down

When it comes to tracking the latest home sales in Pinellas County, the trend continues — sales up, but average sales price down.

The Pinellas Realtor Organization, which keeps track of such things, reports sales of homes in the county for May totaled 971, up from 941 homes sold in May of 2008. That’s a good, if modest, increase of 3.2 percent. The median sales price, however, was just $140,000, down a full 20 percent from May 2008’s median price of $175,000.

That trend — sales up, but home sale prices down — has been going on for some time now.

Another statistic from the Pinellas Realtor Organization is encouraging. In May, there were 6,910 single family homes listed in the Multiple Listing Service, way down from the peak of 11,003 single family MLS listings in February 2006.

Tags: home sales, pinellas county, Pinellas County real estate

Higher interest rates may slow housing market recovery

What’s the biggest (and latest) threat to a recovery in the housing market? Probably rising interest rates, which have jumped up noticeably in the past couple of weeks.

At midweek, the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had climbed to 5.79 percent, up from just 5 percent two weeks ago. That may not seem like a huge increase, but experts are saying that the increase is already having a dampening effect on refinances. Some say that the increase from 5 percent to 5.79 percent may mean that refinance applications are likely to be cut in half.

The major culprit seems to be interest rates on Treasury notes. The Federal Reserve is trying to combat the increasing interest rates by buying up Treasury notes. So far, however, that strategy doesn’t seem to be having much of an affect.

A few weeks ago, interest rates had fallen below 5 percent, which was the lowest level in more than 50 years. Those very low rates, along with low purchase prices, seemed to be providing enough momentum to get the sluggish housing market moving again. But higher interest rates could let the air out of that momentum.

Tags: Palm harbor real estate, Pinellas County real estate, rising interest rates

Will Austin’s new energy audit law ever apply to Pinellas County real estate?

Have you thought about having an energy audit done on your Pinellas County home? If you lived in Austin, Tex., and you were planning on selling your home, you’d be doing that energy audit because the city requires it.

Under a new city ordinance, homeowners MUST pay to have an energy audit done before they can sell their homes. And they must pay between $200 and $300 for the privilege.

The new law went into effect at the first of June.

Austin isn’t the first U.S. city to require energy audits of home sellers. Similar laws have been in effect in San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif. since the 1980s. In those communities you not only have to have the audit performed; you also must make the recommended repairs and upgrades. That provision does not exist in the Austin statute.

The requirement applies to homes that are more than 10 years old. The home sellers must provide copies of the energy audits to any and all potential buyers.

A number of Austin homeowners have registered their displeasure about the new law.  Some of them don’t like the idea of having to fork over $200 or $300; others say that the energy audits may make it more difficult to sell their homes in an already challenging market.

But supporters say that the audits can find enough energy-related problems that, if repaired, could prevent the city from having to build a new 700-megawatt powerplant by the year 2020.

So far, more than 300 energy audits have been conducted in Austin. The most common findings: HVAC ducts leak a lot of air, on average double what is recommended; and attics lack adequate insulation, often needing six more inches to get up to code.

I don’t know of any move afoot to make  similar laws apply here to Pinellas County real estate. But a number of communities around the country are watching the Austin experiment very closely.

Tags: energy audit, Pinellas County real estate