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Hello again, James Oaksun here with the WilMa Halftime Report. Last year about this time, I filled you in on where the real estate market in the Island City stood at the halfway point of the season. Let’s go to the Big Board to see the latest results, looking at single family home sales only.
I’ve said many times that all real estate is hyper local, and the results so far illustrate that clearly. You can’t always get meaningful information from county results, from city results, or even in many cases at the zip code level.
Let’s start with overall Wilton Manors stats for the first half of this season, compared with last season.
Homes sold: 55
% change from last season: 0%
Median price: $417,500
% change from last season: +19%
Yes the volume is flat, so the more unit-driven market participants (closing agents, movers, contractors maybe) may have noticed a pause. But the higher prices are a good sign. Right?
Maybe not. When you look at neighborhood level results some interesting dynamics appear. Let’s start with the good news, east of the train tracks:
Homes sold: 27
% change from last season: 69%
Median price: $465,000
% change from last season: +24%
This season the east is where’s it at, so far. That can change in the second half of course. But things definitely start cooling off as we head west. Here’s the status in the center of the city:
Homes sold: 17
% change from last season: -26%
Median price: $331,000
% change from last season: -15%
The most interesting news comes out of the western neighborhood:
Homes sold: 11
% change from last season: -31%
Median price: $385,000
% change from last season: +17%
Sales volume in the center and west has cratered. While prices seem to have nosedived in Center WilMa also, the contrary seems true in the west. Here’s where you need to peel back the onion a bit, as they say. Most of the homes selling in the west so far this season are updated midcenturies, often with pools. When looking at neighborhood level information you need to consider the types and conditions of the properties being sold, so that appropriate comparisons can be made.
Preliminary research indicates that on a comparable-property basis, prices have increased in the east, but have gone flat in the center of town in the last year, and have actually declined in the west over the last six months.
We’ll be here after the final whistle for our postgame report. Now back to the action.
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