Today's top story: Buyers are fleeing the housing market like rats deserting a sinking ship!

Hi everybody, Joe Hillner with Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty, where we guarantee the sale of your home or I'll buy it! 

Ok, so every week, I share market data to keep you informed with the local real estate market.  

Here is this week’s Boca Market Watch.

First, Single Family Homes:

This past week, 58 new listings, about avg, and ranging in price from $394K to $22.75M, holy guacamole!  11 homes back on the market, while 74 homes listed took a price decrease, and 4 sellers raised their asking price.  And another bad week,  with just 23 different properties under contract, and 11 going pending, terrible! 24 homes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired outright  And a dreadful week for sales with just 30 homes sold, ranging from $285K to $8.2M!

Next up, Condos and Townhomes:

59 new listings, not bad,  and ranging from $128 Grand to $6.9 Million.  14 units came back on the market, 59 properties with a price decrease, that's a bunch, and 3 sellers with an increase.  And the worst week I've seen yet with only 24 different properties under contract, and 21 going pending,  15 condos or townhomes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired. 33 closed sales this week, that's just abysmal, and ranging in price from $111K to $4M.

Here's what's making news right now.

The largest U.S. homebuilder offered up the latest examples of how quickly buyers are fleeing the housing market.

Buyers canceled nearly a third of deals in D.R. Horton 's fiscal fourth quarter, up from 19% a year ago, the Texas-based company said Wednesday. New orders were down 15%  from a year ago, down by 10% in monetary value.

The company is responding by walking away from land deals that don’t meet certain metrics as the market has shifted, writing off $34 million of deposits and expenses tied to the transactions, and offering more incentives to sellers to close deals.  If they think its a bad deal, they're just walking away and writing off the losses.

The historic increase in mortgage rates this year, sparked by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to tame inflation, has pulled back housing demand and crushed builder confidence. Expensive borrowing costs have crushed mortgage demand, which slipped to a 22-year low, per the Mortgage Bankers Association, and prompted brokerage firms, including Redfin on Wednesday, to eliminate portions of their workforce.  

Redfin has just closed its iBuyer division and is laying off nearly 900 workers.  They're following Zillow in recognizing that the market just doesn't support a buy and flip investment strategy. They announced that in the 3rd Quarter, they lost just over $90 Million - just a drop in the bucket when compared to OpenDoor's 3rd Qtr loss of nearly $1 Billion from its iBuying division, ouch!  And their other rival OfferPad, lost $90 Million in the 3rd Qtr, so the whole sector is taking a beating.

Another metric that is forward looking is mortgage applications, which are down 41% vs a year ago.  That's a clear signal that buyers are curtailing purchases in big numbers.

Wall Street analysts say it will come down to “stabilization” in rates for home builders; otherwise it will be a long road ahead. If rates were to continue to go up from here, it's going to be very challenging. If we do get some stabilization, or even a little bit of decline in rates, it could unleash some pretty significant demand. But as Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said, "hope is not a strategy."

So if you're ready to sell your home, not only did you miss out on the hottest market in history, but if you wait too long, you could end up getting caught in a declining market.  My advice, be decisive and don't let that happen!