Orlando Home Sales Rise; Buck National, Statewide Trend

Chalk it up to DisneyWorld. The recent trade of disgrunted Magic star, Steve Francis. For whatever reason, the Orlando housing market refuses to follow the lead of the rest of the state. While existing-home sales in Florida fell 19 percent in January compared with the same month a year earlier, this was far from the result in this one city.

Last week, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association reported that the local inventory of homes available for resale hit a record high 12,015 in January. However, the existing-home sales in Metro Orlando were up 6.2 percent in from a year eariler, according to the local association’s calculations - and the median price was up 25.4 percent during the same period to $242,050.

The national home loan market

The supply of unsold homes nationwide hit its highest level since 1998, as the real estate market continued its forecasted decline. The National Association of Realtors said U.S. resales in January dipped 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 6.56 million, compared with a revised 6.75 million in December,

Analysts said the sales slowdown is helpful because it lessens the chances that there will be a bone-jarring plunge in home prices, the housing downturn that many have feared will be long-lasting.

“Home resales continue to move lower, which is actually good news,” Chris Rupkey, senior market economist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York, told Bloomberg News Service. “The housing bubble is much more likely to end with a whimper and not with a bang.”

Florida Realtors President Mike Dooley said home sales are actually “coming into better balance” between buyers and sellers. For years, he said, many areas had reported exceptionally tight inventories, but now home sellers are turning to Realtors for professional help marketing their homes, boosting the various multiple-listing services.

How does this all affect one searching for a Florida home loan? Or hoping to sell his/her property? Each sides can be confident that it will find a reasonable deal. The Florida housing market remains consistent, even as the rest of the country faces a downswing.