IRVINE, Calif. – May 28, 2015 – Are home selling prices below, above or about equal to homes’ fair market value? According to RealtyTrac’s April 2015 U.S. Home Sales Report, the U.S. market has hit a balance – overall, selling prices generally equal fair market prices.

In Florida counties with enough data to be included in the report, the results are similar. Only one county, Leon, has selling prices greater than fair market prices, and the difference is only 1 percent. All other counties except Escambia have selling prices that are within at least 93 percent of fair market value.

“Nationwide in April, single family homes and condos sold for almost exactly 100 percent of their estimated full market value on average – indicating a good balance between supply from sellers and demand from buyers,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “At the local level, however, most markets tipped in favor of either sellers or buyers – although there were some Goldilocks markets exhibiting a ‘just right’ balance between buyers and sellers.”

Florida sales price to value by county

• Leon: $171,388 avg. sale price – 101% of market value
• St. Johns: $253,047 avg. sale price – 100% of market value
• Brevard: $147,880 avg. sale price –100% of market value
• Seminole: $190,678 avg. sale price –100% of market value
• Osceola: $162,819 avg. sale price –100% of market value
• Marion: $101,289 avg. sale price –100% of market value
• Sarasota: $201,462 avg. sale price – 99% of market value
• Miami–Dade: $230,071 avg. sale price – 99% of market value
• Pinellas: $152,272 avg. sale price – 99% of market value
• Orange: $181,922 avg. sale price – 98% of market value
• St. Lucie: $148,759 avg. sale price – 98% of market value
• Lee: $191,555 avg. sale price – 98% of market value
• Santa Rosa: $168,605 avg. sale price – 98% of market value
• Hillsborough: $165,463 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Polk: $121,754 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Collier: $309,114 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Broward: $193,563 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Bay: $153,943 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Palm Beach: $210,253 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Lake: $164,628 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Citrus: $94,680 avg. sale price – 97% of market value
• Pasco: $96,003 avg. sale price – 96% of market value
• Volusia: $137,287 avg. sale price – 96% of market value
• Indian River: $157,835 avg. sale price – 95% of market value
• Clay: $149,201 avg. sale price – 95% of market value
• Duval: $110,732 avg. sale price – 93% of market value
• Escambia: $95,794 avg. sale price – 87% of market value

“We are in a strong balanced market tipping toward a seller’s market,” says Mike Pappas, CEO and president of the Keyes Company covering South Florida. “Even our waning distressed inventory prices are popping and selling above the appraisal price.”

Nationwide price-to-value trends

Higher than fair market value: Out of 315 counties with a population of at least 100,000 and at least 100 sales in April, 85 (27 percent) had homes that sold, on average, for at least 101 percent of their estimated full market value. At the top of the list: Alameda and San Francisco counties in California with average sale prices that were 108 percent of the estimated full market values.

Below fair market value: Out of the same 315 counties, 186 (59 percent) had homes that sold, on average, for less than 100 percent of their estimated full market value. The lowest price-to-value area: St. Louis City, Missouri at 77 percent.

Balanced market values: Out of 315 counties, 44 (14 percent) had homes that sold, on average sold for 100 percent of their estimated full market value.

Other high-level RealtyTrac report findings

• The U.S. median home sales price was $171,700 in April, down 1 percent from previous month but up 2 percent from year ago.
• 28.7 percent of U.S. single family and condo home sales in April were all-cash purchases, down from 29.9 percent in March and down from 32.8 percent year-to-year.
• The top five metro areas for all-cash purchases are in Florida: Sarasota (59.4 percent all-cash), Cape Coral-Fort Myers, (57.2 percent), Miami (56.5 percent), Tampa (53.0 percent) and Lakeland (47.1 percent).
• 3.7 percent of all single family home sales in April were to institutional investors – entities purchasing at least 10 homes in a calendar year – the same as the previous month but down from 5.5 percent of all single family home sales in April 2014. Metros with the highest share of institutional investor purchases were Charlotte, North Carolina (27.2 percent), Atlanta, Georgia (17.5 percent), Memphis, Tennessee (11.8 percent), Lakeland, Florida (10.2 percent), and Tampa, Florida (9.1 percent).

© 2015 Florida Realtors®

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Reproduced with permission