Loading ...If you pay attention to the news you may be as much in depression as the media tells us our economy is. Well we are here to give you a shot of hope in the spirit of our new President’s call for it from us!
The high point of this latest housing bubble came in 2006 just before it’s abrupt and fatal popping. At that time the average price of a home was approximately 4.5 times the median income levels of the time. Today we are at about 2.9 times the current median income. Incomes have risen since then and prices of homes have most surely fallen.
To date we have seen a roughly 23% decline in housing prices since the highes of 2006. These prices are just higher than the most recent lows of the 1980′s during the last housing boom. Keep in mind that the 23% is an average. There are some places in our country such as California that have seen prices drop more than 50% of their old value! You can see why it has become impossible for anyone that purchased a home since 2002 to refinance. Chances are they now owe more than their house is worth.
The Florida housing market was one of the five worst in the nation for declining home values. We have seen locally that many sellers are finally realizing the right prices to list and sell their homes for. Many had been holding onto hope and had to lower their lists prices two or even three times before getting a bite on their sale. It seems that homes listed for the right price are selling without having to lower the listing price more than once. This is a good omen for the market. Once housing prices finally level off the value of the Mortgage Backed Security will become greater to investors on Wall Street.
Once there is an appetite back for these MBS lenders will once again start offering mortgages to qualified buyers again. This coupled with the rock bottom mortgage interest rates we have available today should provide enough momentum to stop this Olympian sized rock we call an economy from falling down the hill and possibly begin it’s slow gradual rise once again.
The Florida mortgage market and really accross the entire Nation is in somewhat of a stasis right now. The market has been cleansed. Week or small lenders and brokers have been crushed. The medium have been consumed by the large. The large have trimmed down to survival mode. The entire industry is just limping by on wounded knees war weary and ready for hope of a more peaceful time. We think that this time is about to be upon us. For all of our colleagues that are still in business this year we applaud your resourcefulness and we nod to you bearing the same battle scars.
For those consumers ready to purchase a home you are about to be rewarded with low home prices and a low interest rate on your mortgage. We hope that this will teach us all something about personal responsibility and integrity that we will not soon forget.
Tags: florida home loans, florida home prices, florida housing, florida rates, housing correction, housing sales bottom