Sales Dropped last month …

December 28, 2015 ~ The ASSAL Team ~ Leave a comment

November

On December 22nd 2015, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their latest Existing Home Sales Report which covered sales in November. The report revealed that sales:

“…fell 10.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million in November (lowest since April 2014 at 4.75 million)…”

That revelation gave birth to a series of industry articles, some of which quoted pundits questioning whether the housing market was slowing. In actuality, there is one rather simple explanation to much of the falloff in sales last month. It is likely the implementation of the “Know Before You Owe” mortgage rule, commonly known as the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, which went into effect on October 3. These regulations caused house closings to be delayed by an extra three days in November as shown in the graph below.

Three days might sound like a minimal difference. However, since there are only approximately 20 days in a month that a closing would normally take place (Mondays through Fridays), losing three days constitutes well over 10% of all closings. These sales are not lost. They are just moved into the next month’s numbers. In a DS News article on the subject also posted on December 22nd, Auction.com EVP Rick Sharga explained:

“The most likely cause for the weak sales numbers is a delay in processing loans due to the new TRID mortgage requirements imposed by the CFPB. This is the biggest change in mortgage document processing in many years, and there have been numerous reports within the industry of problems implementing the process and the new documentation that comes with it.”

So how is the housing market actually doing?

A better way to look at how well the housing market is doing is to look at the Foot Traffic Report from NAR which quantifies the number of prospective buyers that are actively looking for a home at the current time:

We can see immediately that demand to buy single family homes is increasing over the last few months – not decreasing.

Bottom Line

No matter what last month’s sales numbers show, the housing market is still doing well as demand remains strong.

Call 786.554.8063 or email us George@GeorgeAssal.com, WE are here to facilitate and help you during the process of buying, selling, or renting any real estate needs, which will result in reaching your financial goals quickly and with ease, visit our page www.GeorgeAssal.com .

Coral Gables a City Where Homes for Sales Keep Increasing

August 25, 2014August 25, 2014 ~ The ASSAL Team ~ Leave a comment

As the Real Estate market continues to build up in South Florida, Coral Gables luxury homes and condominiums properties are getting listed for sale at more than $1M, the highest number of 2014 sales was in June, representing a 21.4% increase over May and an incredible 278% increase when compared to January. When it comes to luxury real estate sales in South Florida, summer is anything but slow season, maybe not especially when prices increased alongside the number of properties sold.

The average price per square foot for a property sold in June was $476, up $13 from May and a full $85 per square foot from January. In fact, 55 properties were sold or under contract for sale in June, representing over 25% of the entire available inventory.

CG trend 07-2014 — 34 properties sold in June 33 of these were single-family homes.

Two projects are currently in pre-sale in Coral Gables:

-Merrick Manor, a 10-story, 180-unit development located adjacent to the famous Village of Merrick Park.

-Antilla Coral Gables, a 5-story, 45-unit project located in the northeastern corner of Coral Gables.

(If you need more info regarding either of this projects please contact me directly as I have direct communication with the developers)

For those that don’t know, Coral Gables is one of the nation’s earliest planned communities with a centralized business district, and is home to the iconic Biltmore hotel, one of only three national landmarks in Miami-Dade County. Coral Gables also has world-class shopping along Miracle Mile and the Village of Merrick Park, a diverse spectrum of art galleries, theaters and lots of fine dining establishments.

As a result, Coral Gables will continue to have in-demand properties that sell for a premium and should remain a sound investment.

Contact me for more info

Spring Market Update

Video ~ April 9, 2013 ~ The ASSAL Team ~ Leave a comment