Included is the Sales Data as mentioned in the Palm Beach Real Estate Guide.

According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home resales rose 7.4 percent – the most since October 2001 and the fourth such increase this year.

All regions of the country saw an increase in pending sales from July, with the West showing the largest increase of 18.4 percent.  The Northeast saw an 8.4 percent rise, the Midwest a 3.6 percent increase and 2.3 percent in the South.

According to reports, people are taking advantage of low home prices, and sales are up strongly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.

Although the likely reason for the rise in pending resales is investors buying up foreclosures, the fact remains that these houses are being taken off of the market, which has had a surplus of inventory.

According to a report by the Florida Association of Realtors, newly lowered prices of existing single family homes is the main reason for the Treasure Coast’s 43% rise in sales, the largest annual percentage gain in the state.

After months of sales dropping in the double digits, Palm Beach County’s sales dropped only 3% last month from last year’s levels, another positive sign that the market is stabilizing.

Sources at the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches agree, saying that buyers have been waiting to see how much prices will drop.  And they did -- median prices of existing homes in Palm Beach County fell 12% to $334,300 since June 2007, and in Martin and St. Lucie Counties, median prices fell 32% to $160,800.

Also according to the report, existing condominium sale prices fell 24% since June 2007 to a median price of $153,200, making them more affordable to first-time buyers. Martin and St. Lucie counties’ media price fell to $165,000 – a drop of 28%.

This reflects two things, according to analysts.  One – sellers are becoming more realistic about pricing their properties, and two – the amount of foreclosures in the upcoming months will drive down prices in the next 24 months.

Across the state, existing home sales fell 5% compared to last year’s figures.  Nationally, sales fell by 15%.  These low sales levels also mean lower prices – the median price dropped by 7% compared to figures from last year. 

Economists warn that there is still a way to go, but are hopeful that this is at least the beginning of the end.

Prices and values for South Florida homes have generally seen an “across the board drop”, with some markets experiencing more drastic percentage drops than others.  The Palm Beach real estate market is actually one of the markets where prices and values are still doing significantly better in comparison and is therefore slightly less of an investment and/or buying risk than markets where prices continue to fluctuate.

On top of that, the state of Florida also seems to be eyeing Palm Beach with more confidence.  It recently bestowed the county’s local governments with its State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) program, an $8.9 million dollar fund which, much like the name implies is intended to further develop programs and grants in order to boost homeownership among those with lower income and tackle foreclosure prevention by continuing to fund programs designed to assist distressed homeowners.

Receiving the SHIP funds does entail a few prerequisites however.  Programs designed to assist first time buyers and existing homeowners must already be in place and no neighborhood can have inflated mortgage rates that are higher than thirty percent of what the median value of homes in the neighborhood are currently at.  This removes the need to start from scratch and ensures that the funds are being used as effectively as possible.

The money does (and can) go beyond foreclosures and first time home buyer assistance.  Assuming the requirements have been met, governments may also choose to use the money to construct additional beachfront condos, take care of costly repairs or create additional assistance programs of some sort.

The more that can be done to help those people who don’t have six figure salaries or the homeowners drowning in mortgage debt, the better the chances of improving the country’s real estate market situation and SHIP can only work in favor of these buyers and homeowners.