This is the day we’ve all been waiting for…there is incredibly positive real estate sales news to report.
● The number of Realtor-assisted sales pending for single-family homes in Lee County was 1,088 on Feb. 14, up 33 percent from 821 a month earlier.
● The Realtor® Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach (Lee County) had an 85.4 percent upswing in pending single family home sales in the last 10 weeks. The number of months it takes to sell all residential properties has dropped to 12 months from a high of 22.98 months in December 2007.
● In Martin County, there were 182 pending sales on January 1. Today, there are 345 pending sales, representing an increase of 90 percent.
● Pinellas County reported 600 single family units under contract in February, up 23 percent from 489 a month earlier.
● Marco Island (Collier County) reports pending sales numbers on March 1, 2008 at 135 while a year ago (March 1, 2007) this number was 104. Their pending sales on January 1, 2008 were 77 and in March 1, 2008, pending home sales were 135, up 75 percent.
● The Realtor® Association of Greater Ft Lauderdale (Broward County) has a forecast of pending sales that is quite impressive. Their single family pending sales (which includes condos and townhomes) totaled 529 in January but their pending inventory forecast for the month of February is 871. That is an increase of 65 percent.
● Palm Beach County has seen a drastic increase in single family homes sold between January and March this year. Between January 14 and February 14, 2008, 672 homes were sold. Between February 15 and March 10, 2008, 827 homes sold for an increase of nearly 30 percent month to month.
● The Venice Area Board of Realtors® (Sarasota County) reported 110 pending sales in February 2008 compared to 85 in January 2008. This is an increase of 29 percent.
● Naples Area Board of Realtors® (Collier County) had 513 pending sales in February 2008 compared to 413 pending sales in January 2008, an increase of 24 percent. Also, the pending sales for February 2008 are 10 percent higher than pending sales in February 2007 (464).
● The Orlando Regional Realtor® Association report s an increase in pending sales in both Orange and Seminole Counties. In Orange County, pending home sales increased by 29 percent from February to March and in Seminole County, pending home sales went up from 331 to 404, a 22 percent increase.
● The Sarasota Association of Realtors® MLS (Sarasota County) reported 654 sales pending (single-family and condo) in February 2008, an increase of 27 percent over the 516 sales reported pending in January 2008. In addition, Sarasota had 418 closed sales in February 2008, up 28 percent from the 327 closed sales in January 2008.
It’s a Great Time To Buy Florida Real Estate
http://media.floridarealtors.org/GreatTimeToBuy
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
From Mike Mayo, Communications Director, Pinellas Realtor Org:
Today was a significant day in the property tax arena - the Florida Tax and Budget Reform Commission met to consider numerous property tax reform measures.
The highlight of the day was the passage of CP 002 by McKay and many others. This proposal does NOT include a mandatory services tax. FAR and our coalition successfully removed the services tax provision several weeks ago.The proposal now does away with the $9.5 billion Required Local Effort (RLE) that School Boards raise in property taxes at the direction of the Legislature, starting in 2011. It requires the Legislature to fill the "hole" created with an increase of up to 1-cent statewide sales tax (currently at 6%), repeal of sales tax exemptions (primarily on goods), money generated from a recovering economy, budget reductions, and other revenues identified or created by the Legislature.The commission voted 21-4 in favor of the measure and this will now appear on the November ballot. This proposal has two minor technical stops left before final passage, but significant debate is over. CP 002 must then be approved by 60 percent of voters. Commissioner and 2007 FAR President Nancy Riley voted in favor of CP 002.
This proposal will reduce property taxes by an average of 25 percent for ALL property types. Those actual savings will vary depending on which city and county the property is located. The proposal also includes a 5 percent assessment cap on non-homestead property – a reduction from the 10 percent approved in Amendment 1 this January.While the property tax reductions and lower non-homestead assessment cap are proposals FAR has supported, some concern remains that the Legislature may have to consider taxing services or other tax increases to make up the very large amount of money the RLE represents. There were some business groups that testified today pointing at the uncertainty of what would ultimately be subject to sales tax in the future.
Another proposal considered today was CP 021 by Commissioner Carlos Lacasa that provides, among other things, an eventual 25 percent minimum exemption for all property owners, in addition to the $50K exemption for homestead property. FAR testified in favor of the percentage exemption in order to allow recent- and first-time homebuyers to benefit from property tax savings immediately. This proposal was temporarily postponed so that some differences can be worked through but the Commission plans on revisiting this proposal in the near future. FAR will advocate the percentage exemption be included in this and other proposals that are moving through the process.
Finally, the Commission advanced a statutory recommendation to the Legislature, SP 013 by Commissioner Barney Barnett, that urges passage of legislation changing the presumption of correctness the property appraiser currently enjoys during Value Adjustment Board hearings to “the preponderance of evidence.” FAR supports this change, and testified today that a similar constitutional proposal, CP 042, be placed on the November ballot if the Legislature fails to act on the TBRC recommendation.
Today was a significant day in the property tax arena - the Florida Tax and Budget Reform Commission met to consider numerous property tax reform measures.
The highlight of the day was the passage of CP 002 by McKay and many others. This proposal does NOT include a mandatory services tax. FAR and our coalition successfully removed the services tax provision several weeks ago.The proposal now does away with the $9.5 billion Required Local Effort (RLE) that School Boards raise in property taxes at the direction of the Legislature, starting in 2011. It requires the Legislature to fill the "hole" created with an increase of up to 1-cent statewide sales tax (currently at 6%), repeal of sales tax exemptions (primarily on goods), money generated from a recovering economy, budget reductions, and other revenues identified or created by the Legislature.The commission voted 21-4 in favor of the measure and this will now appear on the November ballot. This proposal has two minor technical stops left before final passage, but significant debate is over. CP 002 must then be approved by 60 percent of voters. Commissioner and 2007 FAR President Nancy Riley voted in favor of CP 002.
This proposal will reduce property taxes by an average of 25 percent for ALL property types. Those actual savings will vary depending on which city and county the property is located. The proposal also includes a 5 percent assessment cap on non-homestead property – a reduction from the 10 percent approved in Amendment 1 this January.While the property tax reductions and lower non-homestead assessment cap are proposals FAR has supported, some concern remains that the Legislature may have to consider taxing services or other tax increases to make up the very large amount of money the RLE represents. There were some business groups that testified today pointing at the uncertainty of what would ultimately be subject to sales tax in the future.
Another proposal considered today was CP 021 by Commissioner Carlos Lacasa that provides, among other things, an eventual 25 percent minimum exemption for all property owners, in addition to the $50K exemption for homestead property. FAR testified in favor of the percentage exemption in order to allow recent- and first-time homebuyers to benefit from property tax savings immediately. This proposal was temporarily postponed so that some differences can be worked through but the Commission plans on revisiting this proposal in the near future. FAR will advocate the percentage exemption be included in this and other proposals that are moving through the process.
Finally, the Commission advanced a statutory recommendation to the Legislature, SP 013 by Commissioner Barney Barnett, that urges passage of legislation changing the presumption of correctness the property appraiser currently enjoys during Value Adjustment Board hearings to “the preponderance of evidence.” FAR supports this change, and testified today that a similar constitutional proposal, CP 042, be placed on the November ballot if the Legislature fails to act on the TBRC recommendation.
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