Ron Wysocarski has come to know the Daytona Beach area real estate market well since he moved from New York to Port Orange in 2004.
He initially worked as a banker writing mortgages before switching careers by becoming a real estate broker a few years later.
He saw home prices soar during the peak of the area's last real estate boom more than a decade ago, when almost anyone could get a housing loan regardless of financial situation. High demand drove prices up back then.
Those heady times came to a end when the housing market "bubble" finally burst, helping to bring on the Great Recession in late 2007.
That high demand for hones is back with a vengeance, according to Wysocarski.
The broker and CEO of Wyse Home Team Realty in Port Orange said he hasn’t seen home prices this high or a market this strong since those years before the real estate crash.
“It’s a very powerful market. I haven’t seen this since the boom years,” Wysocarski said. “It’s come full circle.”
The median home price is soaring, inventory remains low but is steadily increasing and sales have slowed slightly in the Daytona Beach area in 2018, according to the Wyse Report, Wyse Home Team Realty’s analysis of real estate sales, prices and trends based on information gleaned from the Daytona Beach Area Multiple Listing Service.
The median sales price of homes sold in the Daytona Beach area in March was $234,998, an 18 percent increase compared with a year ago, according to the report.
The rise in home prices is “great news” for homeowners, Wysocarski said, adding that it is enticing some to put their homes on the market.
“What we see is an increased number of sellers entering the market, and there are many interested buyers, which is encouraging for people who want to sell,” Wysocarski said.
He urged homeowners to get their homes reappraised now that real estate values are rising.
“A lot of people are just not aware of what their homes are worth in this market,” he said. “They bought or had homes appraised a while ago, when selling conditions weren’t as favorable.”
He said now would be a good time for people to consider "rightsizing" to meet their housing needs, which could mean finding a bigger house for families with children or one that's smaller for couples who are now "empty nesters."
“There is no downside to see what the house is worth,” Wysocarski said. “You can find the exact home you want.”
Prices have reached these highs, Wysocarski said, because there are so few homes on the market. Inventory has been “very low” the past few years, he said, and more people are buying than selling.
Wysocarski pointed out this is another way the housing market has grown since after the crash, when there were “so many more homes” available.
“The market has totally changed,” Wysocarski said. “We had lots of homes and few buyers (after the crash), and now, we have lots of buyers and few homes.”
The home search has been extremely competitive among buyers for the past couple of years, he said. This is particularly true for people seeking low-priced homes, which are hard to come by.
Even if just one low-priced home is sold, it considerably narrows buyers’ options in that area, Wysocarski said. Buyers struggle to find more affordable homes has caused them to settle on paying higher prices, he said.
“It’s been a seller’s market. People tend to pay more than they normally would because it’s competitive to close on a house,” Wysocarski said. “Some buyers have lost bids three, four times, and they’re getting frustrated and just settling with a higher price.”
Although inventory has been much lower than normal the past few years, Wysocarski said, things are looking up. Inventory levels have risen steadily the past four months, he said, which is “good news” for buyers.
“Buyers that have been looking are starting to finally be able to find something,” Wysocarski said.
As more homes get put on the market, Wysocarski believes home prices could soon level off.
Unlike a decade ago, he doesn't expect the real estate market to crash anytime soon, as the area's growth this time appears to be more sustainable.
Wysocarski, who expects a busy spring and summer for home sales, said that recent surge in commercial development projects along International Speedway Boulevard, beachside and the LPGA Boulevard corridor has helped fuel the housing market, and vice versa.
“Development in Daytona and improvements in the local housing market go hand in hand,” Wysocarski said. “Development attracts buyers that are going to have money to use at those new facilities and shopping centers, and developers come here when they see demand for people to live in the area. There’s a synergy between them.”