Orlando Real Estate News

Orlando Real Estate Market Update

November 2008

Good news for first-time home buyers in the Orlando, Florida, area: Conditions for purchasing your first home haven't been this favorable since March 2004. The median sales price declined again last month, dropping nearly 5 percent from $175,650 in October to $167,025 in November. That would mean a savings for a home buyer of over $8,600 if the property was purchased last month instead of the previous month. A year ago, that same home would have cost $234,900 which represents a substantial savings today of nearly $68,000 over 2007.

The decrease in the median sales price pushed the overall affordability index to 135.13 percent (anything over 100 percent is positive), which indicates a borrower earning the median income of $51,962 could qualify for a home priced at $225,699 or less. There are currently over 11,000 homes in this price range in Orange and Semiole Counties. In the prime range for first-time buyers of $137,000 or less, a whopping 6,030 homes were available on the Orlando area Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in November. However, the total number of homes for sale, 24,408, decreased by 249 from October, down 6.74 percent over the inventory a year ago. The average time for a property to remain on the market before selling in November was 109 days.

Pending sales continued a five-month upward trend with 3,326 under contract. That's an 84.2 percent improvement over this time a year ago, an indicator that pleases economist who consider pending sales to be an indicator of future sales activity. Also positive is a reduction of the inventory level, explained as months to sell the existing supply, which was down 28.32 percent from January 2008, now standing at just under 23 months.

Orlando Area Homes-for-Sale Inventory
Of the residential properties for sale through the Orlando area MLS in November, 17,859 were single family homes which is 1,768 less than the number available in November 2007. Most were priced in the $200,000 to $250,000 range. Home buyers looking for the easy-care lifestyle of a condo could choose from 4,450 units, with the largest percentage falling in the $120,000 to $250,000 category. Available duplexes, town homes and villas numbered 2,099 with the majority affordably priced between $140,000 and $160,000.

Orlando Area Condos and Town Homes/Duplexes/Villas
After two months of increases, condo sales fell by 7.76 percent, and year-to-date sales were down 35.94 percent. Completed transactions totaled 107, and most condos sold for $50,000 or less. In the $60,000 to $70,000 price range, 18 units changed hands.

In the duplex, town home and villa category, 93 properties were sold, priced mostly in the $120,000 to $140,000 range. That was an increase in sales of 4.49 percent over November a year ago, though total year-to-date sales in this category were down 10.51 percent.

Orlando-Kissimmee MSA Numbers
In November, sales of homes in the counties of Lake, Osceola, Orange and Seminole (Metropolitan Statistical Area) increased by 6.73 percent over last November, with 1,301 homes sold. Oceola, Orange and Lake Counties saw increases of 33.53, 10.02 and 9.33 percent respectively, with only Seminole County sales dropping, down some 20 percent.

However, year-to-date totals for the counties were lower when compared to January through November of 2007: Lake dropped 6.68 percent, Orange was down 14.13 percent, Osceola decreased only slightly by 1.22 percent and Seminole led the decline with 23.33 percent.

Summary
With the affordability index up, and prices and interest rates down, home buyers may find the Central Florida market the ideal place to purchase their first home. Over 6,000 homes in the Orlando area fall into this buyer's prime price range of $137,000 or less which means a variety of choices are available right now, whether the buyer is looking to downsize for retirement or find that perfect first home.

Statistics are provided by the Orlando Regional Realtor® Association's Market Pulse and based in whole or in part on data supplied by the ORRA or its Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

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