Mid-Month Jacksonville Real Estate Market Update | August 2022

School is back in session and we take a live look at how the market is moving mid-month in this video.

Many questions exist for buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals as YouTube pundits are generating views with headlines focusing on a repeat of the 2006-2008 housing crisis. Furthermore, data is conflicting making it easy to support both sides. Prices continue to stay at current levels and many desirable homes sell very quickly while other homes are starting to sit longer and require more effort than we've seen in a long time to sell.

While we aren't setting up for the same type of crash, we know we're coming down from the exuberance/mania of 2020-2021 back into a more "normal" market where sellers no longer control the entire transaction. Additionally, with over 11,000 Realtors in NEFAR and ~2,500 closings a month, it can seem very sluggish as fewer professionals are busy compared to the last couple years.

Specifically, we look at the following in the video:

• Inventory is peaking in the short-term after rising since the start of the year. A continuation of limited inventory will keep prices higher as we sit at ~2-2.5 months of inventory which keeps us in a seller's market (around 5 months is a balanced market and over 6 is a buyer's market).
• New listings are slowing down as fewer sellers choose to put their home on the market compared to this Summer. Seasonally, this is a little early in the year for this trend, but makes sense as sellers not only feel a more restricted buyer pool as rates remain around 5.5%, but also have limited options both in terms of house selection and cost of a new mortgage if they were to move. All of this is incentivizing sellers and buyers to hit the pause button to see if the market gets better.
• Pending sales have picked up over the last month with a brief dip towards 5% on the rates and more home options to choose from in years.
• Seller mindset is catching up with reality as more negotiation is taking place in transactions, the average list price has plateaued, and fewer homes are selling above list price (down to about 20%).

We'll be back for the August market update once the month is complete and I anticipate this will be a change in the trends we saw through the Summer as more people realize higher rates may be here longer than expected and housing is still in short supply.