Those following local and national existing homes sales reports should be thankful home sales are up in Polk County, Florida. As a whole, Polk County home sales for January 2009 show an increase of 18.6 percent over last year’s January total.
The national picture – coming in at home sales lower by 8.6 percent over last year – looks far less promising. Thankfully, if we peer a bit deeper into the data, we can find a silver lining – on both fronts.
For Polk County, rising sales – at the cost of lower sales prices – are starting to put a dent in our existing home inventory.
In a sense, the boomerang is coming back around, and the glut of homes on the market in areas outside of Winter Haven, South Lakeland, and along the Highway 27 corridor left behind after the market tanked means that sellers are having to “play ball” with buyers – letting homes go for nearly $0.70 on the dollar.
Sure, more than half of the Polk County, Florida homes sold in January were distressed or bank-owned homes, but sold is sold.
Home Sales Numbers Contain Promising News as Well
Looking beyond attention-grabbing headlines like “Existing Home Sales Lowest Since ’97,” we see the real story; the one that shows — once again — that housing market fundamentals are coming back into balance.
NFL Fans have no problem honoring the storied history of Pittsburgh’s Iron Curtain. Few teams have matched their success, and the team’s 5 total Super Bowl wins have put rings on some of the games most famous personalities.