THE ORLANDO FLORIDA
REGIONAL HOUSING MARKET UPDATE
March 2014
The latest housing market data are in for Central Florida, including Lake Mary Florida, Longwood Florida, Sanford Florida, Winter Springs Florida, Oviedo Florida, Apopka Florida, and Altamonte Springs Florida. Here are the highlights taken from the Orlando Realtor Regional Board ending
February 28, 2014 (the latest now available):
Inventory
Inventory numbers gained ground this month. We now have 10,124 homes on the market – up from 9,927 last month. This represents a 41.78% increase in inventory from a year ago, and a 2.59% from last month. This represents a 5.31 month supply – which means we still approaching a balanced market.
Supply is tied to both inventory and pace of sales. 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”. However, these are terms used loosely as descriptors. Buyers ultimately set the market price no matter what the inventory numbers are at a particular moment.
Single family home inventory is up 44.01% from a year ago and condo inventory is up 34.29%.
The inventory number includes all homes: single family homes, condos, duplexes and townhomes. For comparison: In December of 2008, there were 22,524 on the market. In March 2013 there were only 6,937.
This inventory is what is reflected on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It is typical for new home construction companies to elect not to put any or only a portion of their inventory on the MLS and instead try to rely on their overall community and brand marketing to draw in buyers. As we reach a balanced market, more of these will be placed on the MLS for the exposure since competition for Buyers will increase with inventory numbers.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL YOUR HOME OR PROPERTY – PLEASE CONTACT US AND FIND OUT HOW WE CAN HELP!
Sales
Overall sales were down 17.26% from a year ago but up 1.48% from last month.
Of the sales in February, 1,260 or 65.73% were “normal”, 186 were short sales (9.7%) and 471 (24.57%) were bank-owned. The number of normal sales increased by .072% compared to a year ago and the number of short sales fell by a colossal 63.53% while bank-owned sales decreased by a very healthy 15.29% over the same period. This continues the now-standing long-term trend of normal sales taking more and more of the sales total than those sales under distressed conditions. However, for comparison, previous to the housing boom-bust of 2006-2007-2008, the latter two numbers were almost always in the single digits.
Also of note is a trend developing wherein banks are starting to choose foreclosures over short sales as prices have risen substantially in the past few years. In many markets it is making more sense for them to foreclose with the idea of getting more than they would get in a short sale. This seems to be holding as the number of short sales continues to fall faster than bank owned.
Single Family Home sales decreased by 16.71% over a year ago, but up 2.81% from the previous month. Condo sales were down 18.40% and villa/townhome sales decreased this month by 19.91%.
Homes spent an average of 76 days on the market in February – four days more than last month and just a bit more than a week less than a year ago. The average home sold for 96.63% 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 down 21.04% from last February, Orange County was down 21.26%. Osceola came in down 16.56%, but Lake County was up by 6.20%. 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).
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL YOUR HOME OR PROPERTY – PLEASE CONTACT US AND FIND OUT HOW WE CAN HELP!
Prices
The average median price of all homes sales has risen 18.80% from a year ago to $158,000 from $133,000. The Orlando Florida metro area market has now posted positive year-over-year gains in price for 32 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 year over year rose in all categories. Normal (no distress) sales rose 12.26% to $178,500 from this time last year, short sales rose 18.30% and Bank-Owned averages increased .67% compared to a year ago.
Affordability
The Orlando MSA affordability index decreased to 183.65 from 191.09 and the first time homebuyer’s index decreased to 130.60.
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 average buyers earning average incomes (adjusted for the MSA) 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.
Orlando Unemployment
The latest numbers for the Orlando Florida MSA – for January was 6.0%, up from 5.8% the previous month. A year ago it was 7.7%. The national average is currently still at 6.6%
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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 Pointe Central Florida Realty 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.