Tallahassee Real Estate Blog

Today, the Wall Street Journal proclaimed "Cash Buyers Lift Housing."  Does this mean we're on the road to higher prices?  Not quite. 

It's certainly a good sign to see more buyers in the market.  In Tallahassee, we're seeing about the same rate of home sales as in 2000, which no one thought was a bad real estate year.  The cash buyers are out there - but they're not just spending money on anything - they're buying those rock-bottom distress-sale deals. 

Cash buyers are most abundant in the hardest hit housing markets - the ones with the massive distressed home inventory.  Cash buyers in Miami made up a whopping 54% of all December 2010 sales.  Cash buyers were 46% of sales in Las Vegas - another smokin' crater of the housing market.  Here in Tallahassee, cash home buyers were only 28% of the fourth quarter market.       

There are many foces which are putting a lid on Tallahassee home prices, including short sales, foreclosures, tight lending standards, and unemployment.  These cash buyers are a sign that the market feels we are at or near the bottom in pricing.  But we still have a long way to go to reach a balanced tallahassee real estate market.

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