Pinellas County Real Estate Marketplace Statistics for November, 2009:

Clearwater, FL (December 18, 2009) – The Pinellas Realtor® Organization today released marketplace statistics for Pinellas County for the month of November, 2009.
Single family home sales rose by nearly 37% over sales a year ago. Year to date, the Pinellas County market has seen 23.5% more sales than last year. In November, the median price dropped a mere 8.4% from November 2008. At $146,500, median price was unchanged from the previous month. Inventory continues to tighten up. At the end of November there were 6,096 single family listings on the market, down 28.6% from the previous year. The absorption rate was 9.6% in comparison to 5% in November 2008.
Nearly a third of the homes sold were in the $100,000 to $160,000 price range. In that grouping, $12.8% sold at $120,000-$139,999 and another 11.6% sold between $140,000 and $159,999. 25% of the single family homes sold were sold for less than $100,000. Just a little over 3% of homes that sold brought in more than $500,000. Seven homes sold for a million dollars or more. On the condo side of things the absorption rate was 5.7%, reflecting the slower recovery in this market segment. At the end of November there were 5,382 listings, down 23% from last year. Unit sales were upnearly 30% year over year. The median price at $116,000 showed a 7.6% decline from November 2008. This drop is the lowest one of the year. While the loss of equity in single family seems to have slowed, the picture is not as clear with condos. For most of 2009, the median price drops have been in the double digits, with August being the only other month with a drop below 10%. Let’s hope condos have found the bottom, but it is too early to tell. 43% of the condos sold were sold at prices below $100,000. In that category 16% sold between $70,000 and $90,000. At the high end, only 4.3% sold for $500,000 or more. In that group 2 condos were sold for a million dollars or more. 47% of single family homes sold within 30 days on the market. The number of new convention loans accounted for 32% of all loans, with FHA loans at 30% and all cash transactions 30%. Condo financing was 64% cash transactions, with 25% new conventional loans and 7% FHA loans. 33% of condo sales occurred within 30 days.