Home Sales: Is the local housing market cooling down?

2nd quarter 2006

Home Sales: Is the Gainesville, FL housing market cooling down?

As a Realtor®, just about everyone I know has been asking me this question lately. It is easy to see why people would be interested, since the real estate market affects a lot of things: home values, marketing times, second mortgages. We have all heard the media claiming that there is a national cool-down, we hear about the regular interest rate hikes, and we may have friends in the major metropolitan areas that can see the process in action.

The big question: Is the local housing market cooling down?

The short answer: Not at the moment.

The long answer: In Alachua County for the January – April 2006 period we have seen 54 sales and $47 million dollars in sales volume more than the same timeframe last year. In addition, the average sale price for a home increased from $186,000 to $213,000. Alachua County has maintained the gains in activity that occurred in 2005 and continued to add to them.

The news for Haile Plantation is not much different. Sales are constant and sales volumes are in line with last year’s numbers.

These graphs show a comparison between all residential sales for the local board of Realtors® for January – April 2005 and January – April 2006.