Looking for a headline on Fort Lauderdale Real Estate prices these days and you will most likely be able to find one that still talks about the “declining median price”, or the “falling average price of home in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market”. In reality the story is totally true, howvever, a little digging through the facts will expose a differant market that many Ft Lauderdale Real Estate buyers are finding totally surprising.
Ask a local realtor today about the biggest propbelm in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market and often you will hear that there are “no quality properties to sell”. This is the fact that leads to the misleading headline above. With few quality properties coming on the market the larger portion of sales for sale are distressed properties in need of repair. When discussing median price of an areas housing market wouldn’t an approach calling for adjustments for condition be a more accurate picture of the market ? An adjustment based on the proportion of sales which are distressed properties would give a clearer picture to an “average price point”, in a market.
When appraisers do an appraisel of a home they need to take into account things like a “visible leaks, roof past its life expectancy”, or a “kitchen in poor kitchen, no appliances “, once these items are addressed this house will become an “average” home in any real estate market. But as they stand today, they are below average homes, they sell for below avergae prices and these type of properties give an appearance of declining property values. In realty, what is being said is that home of below average condition sell for lower prices.
Sell one Fort Lauderdale Waterfront Home in a prime Fort Lauderdale Real Estate location for $2,000,000 and then sell 5 condos which are 900 sq. foot Fort Lauderdale Condominiums in over 55 communities needing work for $100,000, and then add in the sales of 5 homes which are distressed properties needing total renovation, and all of a sudden the average price of a Fort Lauderdale Home is under $300,000. Sounds a bit absurd doesn’t it to discuss average price when you are discussing totally differant types of properties, but this is exactly what most media sources are reporting when it comes to real estate these days. The slowdown in the overall real estate market, and skew of the sales numbers to distressed, foreclosed and short sale properties is making the average price of a homes in every real estate market in the country appear lower than it is.
Recent Sold Home Under $100,000
With close to 50% of the sales in Fort Lauderdale Real Estate happening in distressed properties, the condition of these homes are below average, therefore the prices being reported for them are below average. In turn if your thinking of buying a home which is better than average, chances are you are going to pay more than average.
You may argue that there have always been lesser quality homes, as part of the inventory of any housing market so why think about these issues today. Simply its about the percentages, when a large portion of the homes being sold are distressed properties, it skews the overall market and paints a Fort Lauderdale Real Estate portrait that gives many potential buyer the wrong impression.
