Marion home sales, median price, rise,

….The months’-supply of inventory in the housing market dipped to 6.9, a decrease of more than 17 percent from 8.4 a year ago. According to Realtors, the benchmark for a balanced market favoring neither buyer nor seller is 5.5 months of inventory.

Hugh Dailey, president of Community Bank and Trust of Florida, described the Realtors’ report as “falling in line with what we’re seeing.”

“The biggest influence is interest rates,” Dailey said. “They’ve stayed reasonably low, so our pipeline of loans is good but we’re seeing more purchases than we’re seeing refinances. In the last three or four years, a high percentage of our loans were refinances, people just trying to catch the lowest rate. Now we’re seeing more purchases.”…..READ THE FULL ARTICLE.