Market Watch: The Most Balanced Real Estate Market?

April 16, 2014 Comments Off

Florida was arguably one of the hardest hit area in the county by the mortgage crisis. We have seen many of the “Sand States” deal with the down turn but many are on their way back up. In our next issue of Market Watch we visit a city in Florida that has many experts calling it the most balanced real estate market out there. So what’s going on with Gainesville, Florida?

Gainesville is the county seat and largest city in Alachua County, Florida, and the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Gainesville in the 2010 United States Census was 124,354 according to Wikipedia.

Zillow reported in February this year that the median home value in Gainesville is $133,500. Gainesville home values have gone up 5.0% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 3.6% within the next year. The city is prime for flipping opportunities with the median price of homes currently being $150,000 while the median price of homes that sold is $130,900.

Gainesville home prices are up almost 20% from last year’s numbers. Despite the rise in prices, Gainesville remains one of the cheapest real-estate markets in Florida with a median home price of just $139,000. Folks that is about 18% below the national average, can we say OPPORTUNITY?

The city was hit hard just like the rest of Florida. But the market is on its way up. Craig Wilburn, president of the Gainesville-Alachua County Association of Realtors, said he looks at buyer activity as reflected in pending sales and inventory to portend a turnaround. Eventually as demand increases and supply decreases, the market will reach a point at which prices stabilize, he said.

“If you’ve got a good product, a good neighborhood, priced under $150,000, it’s selling fast with multiple offers,” Wilburn said.

Essentially, what happened is most of the lower-priced homes in the market sold off over the past year, which has resulted in higher sales prices and less inventory. Unlike some of the other places being listed as great real estate markets, Gainesville has a very healthy six months’ worth of inventory, down from eight a year ago, creating perhaps one of the most balanced real estate markets out there on experts’ lists.

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Erik Hitzelberger has been Real Estate Investor since 2007. While learning the ropes in the market down-cycle, he now teaches others how to use his systems and leverage other people’s expertise to achieve their own goals.

Erik Hitzelberger – who has written 194 posts on Part Time REI.