The Huntsville Area Association of Realtors (HAAR) has released its report for the month of February 2024.

The Huntsville/Madison County market saw 545 houses sold in February, which is up from 378 sold in January, and 452 sold in February of 2023.

There were 994 pending sales listed in February 2024, up from 919 in January. However, this falls short of the 1049 pending sales listed in February of 2023.

Inventory continues to rise, with 1755 units on the market in February, up from 1405 the previous year. Months’ supply of inventory rose 24% for single-family units and 46.5% for townhouse/condo units.

Houses spent an average of 46 days on the market in Huntsville/Madison County, up ten days year-over-year.

“There’s a lot to like in our latest housing stats,” said Kurtis Krueger, CEO of Huntsville Area Association of Realtors and ValleyMLS. “February’s numbers reflect a market that sold more houses, held more inventory, and provided more value to homeowners. That’s a win for everyone. This, of course, is only a snapshot of North Alabama’s real estate market, but both buyers and sellers should be very excited about what’s to come in the spring and summer.”

On the national scale, the Federal Reserve has indicated that it will continue ahead with its scheduled three cuts to key interest rates across 2024, despite data from January and February showing that inflation remains stubbornly above projected levels for the Federal Reserve’s schedule.

“Inflation has come way down, and that gives us the ability to approach this question carefully and feel more confident that inflation is moving down sustainably,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said, speaking at a televised press conference. “It is still likely … that we will see that confidence and that there will be rate cuts.”

Consensus among economists suggests that the first rate cuts will likely be announced around mid-June of this year.

“Core” inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, remains at around 2.8%, while consumer inflation – which includes expenses such as services such as hotels, hospital stays, rent and the like – remained around 3% for the first two months of 2024.

Powell mentioned the high cost of insurance as a factor keeping inflation higher than projected, during a March 7 testimony before the Senate.

“It is clear that insurance of various different kinds, housing insurance but also automobile insurance and things like that, that’s been a significant source of inflation over the last few years, and it’s to do with a million different factors,” Powell said.“

Of particular note is the impact that the climate has had on property insurance. Severe weather events – tropical storms, hurricanes, cyclones, and floods – have been on the rise in both frequency and severity since 1990, according to reporting from credit rating agency DBRS Morningstar.

This increase in damages has caused the insurance model itself to struggle; Farmers Insurance outright abandoned the state of Florida in its entirety in July of 2023. For insurers that remain in coastal areas, the need to offset losses in these coastal markets has led to increased premiums across the board.

In the March 7 testimony, Powell noted that the Federal Reserve has no regulatory authority over insurance, and thus, no real way to control inflation derived from that sector. He suggested that the Federal government may need to intervene if the situation with these coastal markets continues.

The Huntsville Business Journal will continue to monitor developments in the real estate market, both locally and on the national level.