Volusia, Flagler home prices inch higher

When Wayne and Jenny Corbitt recently put their Ormond Beach, Fla., beachside home up for sale, they were surprised to find it put under contract in just eight days.

"I thought it would sell quickly because it's in nice shape, but I thought it would sell in a month," said Wayne Corbitt, a retired teacher who extensively renovated the 1956-built house before putting it on the market.

Median sale prices for existing single-family homes rose in November, up 6.1% to $222,900 in Volusia County, and up 4.7% to $235,400 in Flagler County, according to the latest area Realtor association reports.

The number of closed sales last month rose 1.6% to 707 in Volusia, up from 696 in November 2018.

In Flagler County, the number of homes sold fell 14% to 191, down from 222 the same month last year.

"That's in line with what's going on nationally," said Toby Tobin, a Realtor with Grand Living Realty in Palm Coast who also writes a blog on the Flagler County housing market called GoToby.com.

"It's a remarkable market, because mortgage interest rates remain low, but wages are rising prompting more demand (for homes) and we simply don't have enough homes in the affordable price range to meet that demand," Tobin said.

Aerial View of Daytona Beach, Florida FL
Aerial View of Daytona Beach, Florida FL

Of the more than 800 existing single-family homes currently on the market in Flagler County as of Monday, only four have asking list prices under $155,000, Tobin said.

"Typically these (lower-priced homes) are fixer-uppers, they're not habitable in their present condition," he said.

It's difficult to build new homes under $185,000 these days because of the rising costs of building materials and labor as well as government regulations, said Tobin.

"In 2020, in the Flagler market, you're going to see substantially more multifamily (residential) development, both apartments and condominiums," he said.

In Volusia County, John Adams, president of Adams, Cameron & Co. Realtors, said the local housing market appears to be "starting to level out a little bit, but that's what we need."

"We don't ever want to repeat what we saw in 2004 and 2005," said Adams, referring to the rapid price increases during the over-heated housing market more than a decade ago.

The bursting of the real estate bubble, both locally as well as nationally, resulted in a deluge of foreclosures and bankruptcies that helped usher in the Great Recession.

Adams said he believes the slow-but-steady growth of the housing market this time around is far more sustainable and could continue for several more years.

"All of the new development, that tells you we're going to continue to see expansion," said Adams, noting new home subdivisions such as the Jimmy Buffett-themed Latitude Margaritaville 55-and-older community just west of the Interstate 95/LPGA Boulevard interchange.

"There's an old saying in real estate that commercial (projects) follow rooftops, but with the new commercial development we're seeing, it could work the other way," Adams said.

"I think it's going to attract more people from other areas," he said of the commercial development activity locally, including more stores and restaurants coming to Tomoka Town Center and One Daytona, as well as the recently completed headquarters for Security First Insurance in Ormond Beach and the future 11-story headquarters for Brown & Brown in downtown Daytona Beach.

Realtor Toby Tobin in Flagler County offered a similar assessment.

"I'm very bullish on next year," he said. "There'll be continued population growth as well as continued job and wage growth."

Wayne Corbitt said he and his wife decided to sell their Neptune Avenue home in Ormond Beach in part because "We feel the (housing) market's really good now."

The pending buyers are a local couple with children.

"We wanted to wait until the (housing) market was back close to the peak," Wayne Corbitt said.

While the Corbitts declined to say how much the pending buyers agreed to pay for the house, they said it will more than cover what they originally paid for it 20 years ago as well as the money they invested in improvements.

That said, the Corbitts said they believe the house was a good buy for the pending buyers, thanks to its close proximity to the ocean, just a block-and-a-half away.

Wayne Corbitt pointed to the houses across the street, several of which are new homes that replaced older existing houses, and one which has a large new addition.

"I think beach property will always go up over time," Wayne Corbitt said. "If you want to live near the water, you have to either buy a fixer or a tear-down."

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