REAL ESTATE
the average price for home sales rose 8.3 percent, well more
than the median because of the outsized value of homes on the
barrier islands. Beach area homes in the quarter averaged sale
prices of $1.05 million. They made up 40 percent of the county’s
transactional dollar volume in the first quarter while making up
only 13 percent of all county sales.
In Okeechobee County, volume of sales is much less than
its Treasure Coast neighbors, but it may be the hottest market
among the four right now.
Cristie Schmidt, president of the Okeechobee County Board
of Realtors, says, “We’ve got a real healthy market right now.”
She says homes that were reaching contract in a month now
often take only one or two weeks.
Buyers still come to the Treasure Coast from up north, but
many are now relocating from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-
Dade counties, Realtors say, particularly to Port St. Lucie.
Realty group figures show that Martin’s market narrowly
favors buyers, while Indian River and St. Lucie are still sellers’
markets, but much less so than a year ago.
A factor that may have contributed to the Treasure Coast’s
drop in first quarter 2019 sales volume is that early 2018 sales
may have been boosted by sales postponed from late 2017
when the area was recovering from the effects of Hurricane
Irma. Also, mortgage rates rose above 4 percent in the first
quarter and have since fallen below that point, according to
area Realtors.
Statewide, Orlando-based Florida Realtors showed a 1.2
percent drop in home sales in the first quarter as median sale
prices rose 2 percent. v
REAL ESTATE STATS
QUARTER 1 2019 VS. QUARTER 1 2018
Q1 2019 Q1 2018 change
MARTIN
Closed sales, single family 490 549 -10.8%
Median sale price $357,450 $355,000 0.7%
Median days to contract 57 54 5.0%
ST LUCIE
Closed sales, single family 1,138 1,198 -5.0%
Median sale price $227,000 $215,000 5.6%
Median days to contract 58 42 38.1%
INDIAN RIVER
Closed sales, single family 661 705 -6.2%
Median sale price $242,700 $233,000 5.6%
Median days to contract 62 46 46.0%
OKEECHOBEE
Closed sales, single family 45 N/A
Median sale price $180,000 N/A
Source: Realtor Association of Indian River County, Realtors of the Palm Beaches and
Greater Fort Lauderdale, Okeechobee Realtors Association
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