REAL ESTATE NEWS: Amelia Island & Nassau County, Florida

EDITOR’S NOTE: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insight on various topics in Marketplace column.

“As a whole, the island has a very healthy market,”

says Tisha Dadd, who is the broker/owner of Island Real Estate of Amelia.

On Amelia Island, several new subdivisions will be coming onto the market this year, which will bolster the housing inventory. The new houses could compete with existing ones (in the sub-$400,000 price range), but are unlikely to saturate the market.

Real Estate Market County-Wide Has Cooled

But like the weather, lately, the real estate market in Nassau County has cooled. While prices have held steady, sales have gotten a little chilled — as if a cold front had moved in from the north. Some of the effect is seasonal, while some is due to supply-and-demand imbalances.

Sellers Want To Sell High, Buyers Want To Buy Low

“Sellers are pushing the envelope,” says Tisha Dadd, in regard to owners asking for higher prices after a prolonged rally. “I really believe that people are seeing the increase in property values the last couple years, and they want to sell high. And buyers want to buy low.”

A recent report from Credit Suisse described a “lack of buyer urgency.” The international financial firm says this is due to a lack of confidence in the economy, as well as an unwillingness to pay higher housing prices.

Those factors are hindering the current environment. However, data from the last couple years is almost reminiscent of the housing boom of the mid-2000s.

On a national level, October home prices have increased 6.4 percent year over year. While this is impressive, it pales in comparison to gains of more than 10 percent of a year ago, according to Trulia.

Double-digit increases in housing prices are unsustainable over a long period of time. In other words, they are a “prime example of something that can’t last forever,” says Trulia’s chief economist Jed Kolko.

Locally, the volume of sales in Nassau County, Florida increased over the past year, as did prices.

According to recent figures from the Nassau County property appraiser, the median sales price of Nassau County homes increased from $221,000 to $230,000. And the number of sales grew by almost 10 percent — coming in at 716 this year.

While prices have leveled off, they are holding steady locally and nationally. And on a promising note, new listing or asking prices have been rising. This is typically a positive sign.

Asking prices have increased in nearly all of the largest markets, which includes Jacksonville (and normally entails Nassau County). In contrast, these prices have fallen in only a few places.

As noted above, Dadd is the broker/owner of Island Real Estate of Amelia. She also owns Atlantic Mortgage Consultants with her husband, Dan Bulna. Therefore, she sees the property market from two sides — the selling/buying and the financing. In that regard, financing has loosened up recently from the suffocating grip of over-regulation. Therefore, it is easier now to qualify for a mortgage.

Nationally, according to Credit Suisse, even the recent dip in interest rates (and consequently mortgage rates) did not really entice buyers. This could change if the lower rates persist.

This statistic really doesn’t make sense. Normally lower rates create an incentive for buyers, as they can save on their financing costs.

Also like the weather, sometimes the real estate market can be hard to predict, or figure.