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Moderation in the housing market shows a shift toward affordability in Clay

For Clay Today
Posted 9/14/22

CLAY COUNTY – In most areas of Northeast Florida, the August housing market reflected a slight drop in median prices while the number of days homes sat on the market has gradually continued to …

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Moderation in the housing market shows a shift toward affordability in Clay


Posted

CLAY COUNTY – In most areas of Northeast Florida, the August housing market reflected a slight drop in median prices while the number of days homes sat on the market has gradually continued to climb. Buyers can relish the good news that, for single-family homes, the percent closed-over list price went down 27.7% as did the average list price, 1%, indicating a small tick up in affordability throughout the region.

As far as affordability goes, the market still has a way to go to get back to the point where homes are affordable for people making the median family income. However, there are many indications that it is finally moving in the right direction. For instance, the region’s Home Affordability Index inched up 2.9% to 70 for single-family homes. The index measures housing affordability by measuring whether a typical family earns enough to qualify for a mortgage on a typical home, based on current interest rates, median income, and median home prices. A higher number means greater affordability.

In Clay County, the median price of single-family homes dropped to $366,250 in August, a nearly 5% decline since July. The median days on the market were 27, an increase of 28.6%. Month-to-month, closed sales rose 2% to 304, pending sales rose 19.3% to 309, and new listings rose 9.5% to 473. Active inventory for the county was 776 homes, an increase of 13% from July and a 2.6-month supply. The affordability index registered at 75, a 5.6% increase from the previous month.

“Moving into fall 2022 we continue to see the residential real estate market, which includes single-family homes, condos, and townhomes, continue to moderate and normalize,” said NEFAR 2022 President Mark Rosener. “While still an 18% increase year over year, the median price in our six-county market has shown mild fluctuations month to month of between $350,000 and $365,000 since March. This indicates that the dramatic increases that were seen during the pandemic are coming to an end. Closed and pending sales have leveled off in the 2,300 to 2,500 range over the past several months and are now well below the 3,000 to 3,500 peak a little more than a year ago. Median days on the market have continued to increase to 31 days with only 19.1% of homes selling over list price and the sale-to-list price ratio settling into a more normal 98.6%.

“New listings are hitting the market and active inventory has stabilized, with 3,200 new listings and 6,348 active listings. The combination of fewer unit sales and our current active inventory has increased the region’s months of supply to 2.7 months, which has been stable over the past couple of months.”

As far as single-family homes go, $393,900 was the median price for the region in August, a scant 1.5% decline. As seen in the combined market of single-family, condos, and townhomes, the median days on the market for single-family residences hiked up 34.8%. Still, inventory remains historically low, with a 2.7-month supply and an active inventory of 5,323 single-family homes.

St. Johns County remains the most expensive area to live with a median single-family home price of $555,000 and a Home Affordability Index number of 49. Yet the August median days on the market for single-family homes leaped up 34.6% to 35 days.