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Pensacola Region Real Estate

Home sales turnaround while prices continue to drop.

As 2008 draws to a close, Florida home sales read like a good news-bad news lineup. The good news: In recent months, the number of home sales each month continued to rise, and has done so long enough to make the rebound appear to have legs. It's not a return to even a balanced market yet, but the first step will be a pickup in home sales and a decrease in the available inventory of homes. Single family home sales rose 5 percent in third quarter 2008 compared to the same quarter in 2007.

The bad news: Home prices continue to decline. While expected - prices remained strong for over a year when sales first stalled - the market needs to find a bottom before it can turn around. As sales pick up, price drops should slow, and some experts predict that will happen in 2009, perhaps by summer. In third quarter 2008, the median price was down 20 percent compared to one year earlier.