Despite concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic, the area real estate market saw activity in June that was consistent with June 2019.
After a much slower April and May than last year, local agents were busy again in June, various reports show.
According to Dirk Schroeder, broker owner of Century 21 St. Augustine Properties, Metro Market Trend stats for St. Johns County show that sales were down 39% in May compared to 2019. But June sales of single-family homes rebounded to 529, which was just 5.8% off from last year.
"The prediction that we would have an 'V-shaped' recovery is already taking shape in the real estate market in St. Augustine," Schroeder said in a email to The Record. "With interest rates at record low level, buyers are coming out in huge numbers despite the increase in coronavirus infections.
"Realtors and buyers and sellers are taking precautionary health measures, but with housing being an essential need, sales are very strong compared to last year."
For the entire region, June was a month of rebound activity.
Northeast Florida Association of Realtors data indicated that sales for June 2020 were almost identical to that of last year.
"While COVID-19 continued to be the hot topic of discussion, Northeast Florida's real estate market sizzled as well," a release from NEFAR said. "Spiking up from 2,337 sales in May, 3,021 homes changed hands in June, just three sales less than June 2019. June's closed sales were also the greatest number of monthly sales since 3,035 sales in July 2019."
Sales prices continued to rise with a median price of $255,000 (up 5.4% from a year ago) and average price of $310,822 (up 4.4% from a year ago).
NEFAR stats do not cover all of St. Johns County, but the information it did gather showed that the median price for homes sold increased slightly in June to $356,995. The year-to-date median sales price was $342,000 for the county, according to NEFAR.
Schroeder said the best comparison is the month over month stat, looking at the number of sales and dollar volume in 2019 and comparing it to 2020. These numbers are broken down into a variety of categories, including new home sales, single family resales, condos (new and resales), mobile homes, residential lot sales, commercial improved and vacant, foreclosures and liens.
The total number of closed sales in St. Johns County in 2019 to the end of June were 7,183 in all categories combined. And in 2020, there were 7,292. In dollar volume in 2019, there was $2.395 billion in property sold compared to $2.59 billion in 2020, an increase of 8.16%.
"A shocking surprise in the wake of the pandemic," Schroeder said.
While stats provided by Schroeder and NEFAR suggest great demand, some numbers do reflect a serious issue in the market: not enough sellers.
NEFAR said inventory in the entire Northeast Florida market tumbled to 7,545, a 24.1% drop from a year ago. While inventory has been particularly low for several years, 7,545 is less inventory than any month since some point prior to 2009. NEFAR's reports documenting inventory levels by month extend back through 2009.
The month supply of home dropped to just 2.8, which is 26.3% less than June 2019. A balanced market is considered to be between five and six months of inventory.
In a release, 2020 NEFAR President Ron Harris said he's seeing a lot of positives considering what the country is going through right now.
"Despite COVID-19, consumers are demonstrating pent-up demand for homes and taking advantage of low interest rates," he said in the release. "Sellers are capitalizing on robust sales prices and the lowest inventory in years, with 13.5% of June sales going for more than the original listing price."
