CORRECTION: The secondary headline contained an error. Survey respondents said that about 15 percent of homes sold for more than the asking price in Texas — higher than the share reported by respondents in Florida (12 percent) and California (8 percent).
In the third quarter, Florida’s real estate professionals are more pessimistic about the future of home prices than those in California or Texas, according to a survey by online real estate marketing site HomeGain.
HomeGain conducted the survey from Sept. 7-14, with participation from more than 1,100 real estate agents and brokers.
Of surveyed real estate professionals in Florida, 56 percent think home prices will decline in their market in the next six months, compared to 41 percent in California and 29 percent in Texas. Nationally, that figure was 48 percent.
Of the three states, Texas had the biggest share who thought home prices would stay in the same in the next half-year, 57 percent; followed by California, 45 percent; and Florida, 35 percent. In California and Texas, the same share of respondents, 14 percent, expected home price appreciation during that time, compared to 9 percent in Florida.
Florida’s real estate pros were also more likely to think that their homeowner clients’ home values had fallen on average in the past year: 79 percent said those values had declined, vs. 64 percent in Texas and 52 percent in California. Nationally, 75 percent of respondents thought so.
According to respondents, California homeowner clients were slightly more likely to agree with an agent’s recommended listing price: 12 percent, compared to 8 percent in Florida and 9 percent in Texas. Florida sellers were more likely to think their home was worth 10 to 20 percent more than their agent recommended: 48 percent thought so, compared to 46 percent in Texas and 38 percent in California.
Sellers in California and Texas were equally likely to suggest an asking price 1 to 9 percent above the agent’s recommendation: 30 percent. In Florida, that figure was 15 percent.
Meanwhile, 16 percent of sellers in Florida thought their home was worth 21 to 30 percent more than the agent’s recommendation, compared to 8 percent in California and 5 percent in Texas.
Homebuyer clients in California were the most likely to think that homes were fairly priced: 35 percent thought so, compared to 23 percent in Texas and 21 percent in Florida.
Texan buyers were the most likely (42 percent) to think that homes were less than 10 percent overpriced, and 20 percent said they were overpriced by 10 to 20 percent. In California, 26 percent thought homes were less than 10 percent overpriced and 24 percent thought they were 10-20 percent overpriced.
Florida had the biggest mismatch between buyer and seller expectations of fair price: 25 percent of buyers thought homes were less than 10 percent overpriced while 36 percent thought they were 10-20 percent overpriced.
The average difference in price between what sellers believe their home to be worth and the amount at which the agent eventually listed the house varied the most in Florida.
The biggest chunk of respondents there (36 percent) listed homes 11-20 percent less than the seller’s valuation. In California, the largest share of respondents (42 percent), listed at 5-10 percent less than the seller’s valuation — as did the largest share of respondents in Texas (63 percent).
In all three states, most homes sold for less than 5-10 percent off the asking price: 64 percent in Texas, 52 percent in Florida, and 51 percent in California. The Golden State saw the most sales closest to the asking price: 20 percent, compared to 6 percent in Florida and 4 percent in Texas, respondents said.
In Texas, 15 percent of homes sold for higher than the asking price, compared to 12 percent in Florida and 8 percent in California, according to the survey data.
Each state differs in its share of foreclosures. Most surveyed real estate agents and brokers in Texas, 52 percent, said fewer than 10 percent of the homes for sale in their market area were foreclosures. Forty percent said 10 to 20 percent of for-sale homes were foreclosures.
That compares to about 20 percent of respondents in California and 14 percent of those in Florida who said fewer than 10 percent of the homes for sale in their area were foreclosures.
The biggest share of respondents in both California and Florida — 31 percent and 24 percent, respectively — said 21-30 percent of for-sale homes in their area were foreclosures.
The survey also asked respondents about their approval of President Obama’s performance. The president’s approval ratings were highest in California — 43 percent of agents and brokers at least somewhat approved of his performance.
Thirty percent of respondents in Texas approved of his performance, while 22 percent of respondents in Florida approved. Florida also had the highest share of respondents who strongly disapproved of his performance, at 63 percent, versus 57 percent in Texas and 40 percent in California.
