• Those interested in hearing Gov. Rick Scott speak at the March 11 Cornerstone luncheon at the Hyatt Downtown can reserve a spot by visiting www.opportunityjacksonville.com or calling 366-6600, ext. 7601. Scott will be the keynote speaker at the first Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Cornerstone quarterly meeting of the year. Costs are $45 for Cornerstone investors, $60 for chamber members who aren’t Cornerstone investors and $70 for nonmembers. Tables of 10 are available.
• Home sales are up, but overall prices are down. The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors reports a 3 percent increase in completed sales in December from the year before, but a 7.1 percent drop in the median sales price. Of the 1,423 closed sales, less than half, 653, were traditional sales while 54 percent, or 770, were lender-mediated. The median price for traditional sales was up 11.7 percent to $181,000, while the lender-mediated sales price dropped 19.5 percent to $88,500.
• The Realtors also reported that pending sales rose 21.4 percent in December to 1,340 from the year before. Inventory supply fell to 9.2 months from 11.9 months.
• In another measure of home sales, the Florida Realtors reported an 11 percent increase in Jacksonville area existing single-family homes sales in 2010 over 2009, from 12,022 to 13,373. The median sales price fell 7 percent from $152,200 to $142,000.
• In the existing condominium market, the Florida Realtors reported a 65 percent increase in Jacksonville area sales over the year, from 1,412 in 2009 to 2,329 in 2010. The median sales price dropped 30 percent, from $111,400 to $78,200. The numbers did not include data from the St. Augustine & St. Johns County Board of Realtors for October.
• Meanwhile, for December, the Florida Realtors’ numbers for Jacksonville showed a 6 percent rise in single-family existing home sales between 2009 and 2010 to 1,228, but a 5 percent drop in the median sales price to $136,500. For existing condos, sales rose 29 percent to 222, while the price dropped 3 percent to $81,600.
• Jacksonville-based CSX Corp. announced record fourth-quarter and annual earnings Monday. The transportation company said quarterly earnings rose 42 percent over the year to $430 million, and annual earnings were up 37 percent for the year to $1.56 billion. Quarterly revenues rose 21 percent to $2.8 million. CSX said it invested $1.8 billion in its business last year and expects to invest $2 billion this year, expecting another record year.