Orlando Florida Regional Housing Market Update January 2013

ORLANDO FLORIDA REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET UPDATE

January 2013

The latest housing market data are in for Central Florida, including Lake Mary Florida, Longwood Florida, Sanford Florida, Winter Springs Florida, Oviedo Florida and Altamonte Springs Florida. Here are the highlights taken from the Orlando Realtor Regional Board for:

December 2012 (the latest now available):

Inventory 

The distinct and long-term downward trend for inventory levels continues in December. Twenty-five out of the last 29 months now have seen Orlando Florida’s regional housing inventory decline. Currently there are now only 7,384 housing units on the market through the Orlando Regional Multiple Listing Service – down from 7,847 last month and down from 9,258 last January. This includes single family homes, condos, duplexes and townhomes.  December 2011 held an inventory of 9,732 – low levels even then. For comparison: In December of 2008, there were 22,524 on the market.  At the very height of inventory in early 2007, there were more than 28,000 homes on the market. The overall inventory is now down 24.13% from a year ago.   

Single family inventory is down 27.87% from a year ago, but condo inventory is down only 3.49%. The current pace of sales equates to only 3.06 months of supply.  Six months of supply is generally considered balanced. Under normal economic conditions, anything above six months is generally considered a buyer’s market and anything below is then considered a seller’s market. 

Sales 

There were 2,410 closings in December, a 8.9% increase from a year ago.   

Of the sales in December,1,190 or 49.38% were “normal”, 728 were short sales and 492 were bank-owned. The number of normal sales increased by 30.63% compared to a year ago and the number of short sales fell by 10.12%. This reflects the trend of normal sales increasingly taking more and more of the sales total than those sales under distressed conditions.   

Single Family Home sales increased by 13.49% over a year ago. Condo sales decreased by 4.55% and Townhome & Villa sales decreased 3.59% from a year ago.     

Homes spent an average of 80 days on the market in December, two days less than last month, but three weeks and day less than a year ago. The averagehome sold for 96.14% of its then-current listing price. “Then current listing price” is an important distinction since a home may have been on the market with prior price reductions.  Thus, it may have ended up selling for less than the percentage cited from its original debut listing price. 

By county in the Orlando MSA for sales compared to a year ago: Seminole County was up 17.23% from last December, Orange County was up .07% - statistically unchanged. Osceola came in down 3.88%, and Lake County increased by 10.69%. No statistics for Volusia or Brevard were made available (Volusia has several different realtor boards with both New Smyrna and Daytona each having their own and Volusia is officially part of the Daytona Beach MSA.  In addition, Brevard has its own Board).

Prices 

The median price of a home rose 22.04% in 2012.  The median price of an existing home was up 10.76% in December 2012 from a year ago to $131,800 – the highest since July 2009.  The Orlando Florida metro area market has now posted positive year-over-year gains in price for 18 consecutive months.  

However, remember - the median price above encompasses all sales. Individual categories can fluctuate within the median. However, this month, as was the case last month, prices rose in all categories. Normal sales rose 4.40%, short sales rose 2.86% and Bank-Owned averages increased 23% compared to a year ago. 

Overall prices have risen by 22% since January 2012 and 39% since January of 2011.

Affordability 

The Orlando MSA affordability index decreased to 242 and the first time homebuyer’s index also decreased to 172. 

Each index is inversely proportional to pricing changes. An affordability index of 100 means that a buyer earning the state-reported median income has exactly the income necessary to purchase the median-priced home.  Anything over 100 indicates that buyers have more income than that which is required.   A score of 99 means the buyer is 1 percent short of the income necessary to qualify. When prices rise faster than incomes, the affordability index goes down and visa-versa. 

Buyers who earn the reported median income of $54,815 can qualify to buy a home from the 6,266 homes in Seminole or Orange counties priced at $319,358 or less. First time buyers who earn the reported median income of $37,274 can qualify for homes in those counties priced at $193,034 or less.

Orlando Unemployment

The latest numbers for Orlando Florida – for November is 7.8%, down from October’s 7.9%.  A year ago it was 9.9%. The national average is also 7.8%

The statistics cited is provided by the Orlando Regional Realtors Association, of which we are a member.

This report is intended to be for reference and informational purposes only.  The opinions expressed herein are solely those of New Southern Properties Inc. and are opinions. No purchases or investments should be made based solely on this report, this data, or the opinions expressed herein.  Real Estate purchases and investments are complex transactions. You are strongly urged to consult with your financial, legal and real estate consultants before making any real estate purchase or investment.