What an interesting month it has been in the Jacksonville real estate market.  With us closing the door on January at the end of this week, we will be keeping a close eye on the numbers.  Through this morning the month-to-date trend is very interesting and it appears that for the first time, the sales of distressed properties may possibly surpass straight resales in the Jacksonville real estate market.  For the closings month-to-date this has happened.  We'll have to see how the numbers look a week from today to know if that fact will hold.

There are 10,602 homes for sale (non-condo) in the Jacksonville real estate market this morning.  There are 1,610 homes under contract at this moment.  There have been 9,704 homes sold in the past year, and 479 sold in the past 30 days.

The pending to active ratio for the Jacksonville real estate market is 15.19%, still far from our benchmark 50% that is indicative of a balanced market.  This is the highest we've seen the ratio go since September of 2008 and a year ago at the same time this number was only 11.18%  At the same time in 2006 this ratio was at 18.20% and the Jacksonville real estate market inventory was only at 7 months.  At this point in time, as the pending to active ratio suggests we were already well into a buyers market.  At the same time, most in the area had no idea that we were in a buyer's market since the inventory still appeared to be somewhat low and could be attributed to being a seasonal drop.

We have a 13.11 month inventory in the Jacksonville market right now.  Last year at this time we had an 11 month inventory.  Today's level is down from the high of around 14 months we saw a few months ago.  The inventory level at the point the real estate market started to fall was at less than 4 months.

As more sellers who do not have to sell begin to take their homes off of the market, we should see the inventory level continue to go down. Today 64% of the homes on the market are straight resales while only 25% of the homes on the market are distressed properties.  Even though the number of straight resales almost triple the number of distressed homes on the market, only 32% of all homes that are under contract are straight resale while over 51% of all homes under contract are distressed properties.  The pending to active ratio for distressed properties is dramatically better, almost 31%,  while the pending to active ratio of straight resale properties is only 7.66%.  The straight resales that are selling are the ones who are able to price their homes competitively with the distressed properties.  Overpriced homes do not sell in this market and rarely get showings.  Buyers are rejected everything but the best priced homes.

If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, you have to price ahead of the market.  You owe it to yourself to get an upfront honest evaluation of what your home is really worth in today's market.  Do not overprice your home.  You are only going to cost yourself time and more money if prices continue to fall. 

If you are only the fence about buying, hop on off!  There are incredible values out there just waiting to be snapped up.  Just remember, if you want the best deal, look for an agent who really knows the market, is a short sale specialist, and does not shy away from distressed properties.  Call us if you need us!  904.371.9654.