Real estate prices rebound but it’s still a buyers’ market | Cross River Real Estate

The average sales price of a home in South Mississippi in June reached its highest level in three years, a sign that the Coast real estate market is following the national trend upward.

Homes and condos sold on average for $134,721 in June, according to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Multiple Listing Service. That was up $8,000 from May and almost $11,000 from a year ago. The last time

South Mississippi saw that price was in July 2010.

While that’s good news for some sellers, it doesn’t yet mean homeowners who owe more than their home is worth can move without bringing thousands of dollars to the closing table to satisfy the loan, said Kathy Elias, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty in Gulfport.

She’s been a real estate agent for 18 years and said most everything has changed since the real estate bubble burst. Since 2008, it’s much harder for buyers to get a loan, harder for sellers to get their homes appraised for what they feel their property is worth and extremely tough to buy or sell a condo.

Elias said people who bought a condominium in South Mississippi for $650,000 after Hurricane Katrina can’t sell it today for $200,000, and only a few lenders will finance a condo purchase.

‘Steadily rebounding’

Ray Gonzales Jr., a real estate broker and consultant with Century 21 Williams & Associates in Gulfport, said the inventory of bank foreclosures and short sales has tumbled from 23 percent of all closed sales last year (July 2011 through June 2012) to 11 percent for the same period this year. The rate of homes closed is the best in six years.

Real estate prices rebound but it’s still a buyers’ market | Business | The Sun Herald.