Home prices rose 6.3 percent in May in Sarasota-Manatee, a rate that was slightly slower than in the state and nation.
Charlotte County, however, topped them all by posting a 7.9 percent jump in home prices compared with May 2016, real estate researcher CoreLogic reported Wednesday.
Florida posted the nation’s 10th-highest rate of year-over-year price hikes, at 6.4 percent. Prices nationwide moved up 6.6 percent.
Home values in Florida still remain nearly 20 percent off their pre-recession peaks.
“The market remained robust with home sales and prices continuing to increase steadily in May,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “While the market is consistently generating home-price growth, sales activity is being hindered by a lack of inventory across many markets.
“This tight inventory is also impacting the rental market where overall single-family rent inflation was 3.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in May of this year compared with May of last year,” he said. “Rents in the affordable single-family rental segment — defined as properties with rents less than 75 percent of the regional median rent — increased 4.7 percent over the same time, well above the pace of overall inflation.”
Prices in Florida are projected to increase by 6.8 percent over the next 12 months, outpacing the 5.3 percent U.S. forecast.
- From April to May, home prices rose 1.1 percent in Sarasota-Manatee and 1.0 percent in Charlotte, CoreLogic said.
- Local home price activity was mixed in a recent Florida Realtors report. A re-sale house in Sarasota County traded for a median $260,000 in May, down 1.1 percent over the year, while a home in Manatee sold for $299,000, up 7.8 percent. Prices in Charlotte rose 12.5 percent, to $216,513.
“For current homeowners, the strong run-up in prices has boosted home equity and, in some cases, spending,” said Frank Martell, president/CEO at CoreLogic. “For renters and potential first-time home buyers, it is not such a pretty picture. With price appreciation and rental inflation outstripping income growth, affordability is destined to become a bigger issue in most markets.”
States with the highest year-over-year home appreciation were Washington, at 12.6 percent; Utah, at 10.4 percent; and Oregon, at 9.0 percent, according to CoreLogic.
States where home prices fell were Wyoming, down 2.2 percent; West Virginia, off 1.2 percent; and Alaska, down 0.3 percent.
Herald-Tribune July 5, 2017
