Palm Beach County, Fla., home prices retreated in June after jumping to a post-crash high in May.
The median price of houses sold by Realtors last month was $356,900, down from May's $364,900 and up less than 1% from a year ago. The dip might ease an affordability squeeze that's hampering buyers, but it's frustrating for sellers.
"This is a welcome relief for buyers and a caution to sellers who may be overpriced," said Jeffrey Levine, President of the Realtors of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale.
Home sales fell in June, typically the busiest buying season in Palm Beach County. Realtors counted 1,692 transactions last month, down from 1,805 in June 2018. It was the slowest June since 2014, when the county's housing market was emerging from a wrenching collapse.
Home prices and sales haven't kept pace with the rest of the economy. Nearly every economic indicator supports strong demand for homes: Palm Beach County's unemployment rate was just 3.6% in June, population growth and job creation are robust, mortgage rates remain below 4%, stocks are near record levels and rents are rising.
All of those factors generally lead to increasing demand for homes.
"We should be throwing a huge party, and of course we're not," says George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com.
One possible explanation is the disappearance of foreign buyers. Home purchases by international buyers have fallen in half over the past two years, the National Association of Realtors said last week. Overseas purchasers are a staple of Florida's real estate market.
