Sales, Home Prices in Orlando Down Last Month

The Orlando housing market - mainly comprised of Orange, Osceola, Lake and Seminole counties - saw a 36 percent decrease in home sales in November, with 1,705 homes sold versus 2,656 in November 2005.

Median existing home prices, however, were up 4 percent for the month at $263,600 (compared to $254,600 a year ago), according to the Orlando-based Florida Association of Realtors. Such an increase could explain the lack of Florida home loans applied for last month.

Even with the November decrease in single-family existing home sales, Randy Martin, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and a Florida mortgage broker associate with Re/Max 200 Realty Inc., says the Orlando area is still expected to finish out 2006 as the second-best year on record.

Florida condo news

In other local real estate news, condos also took a hit in November, with a total of 276 existing condos in Orlando changing hands - a 41 percent decrease over the 467 condos sold the previous year, FAR reports.

Median prices for condos slipped as well, coming in at $171,800 versus $182,400 in November 2005, a 6 percent decrease.

Statewide, meanwhile, sales of both homes and condos were down in November.

A total of 11,912 existing single-family homes sold statewide in November, a decrease of 30 percent from 17,088 homes sold a year ago. The median price of existing homes also fell from $250,400 a year ago to $242,500 this year, a 3 percent decrease.

In addition, condo sales statewide declined 36 percent last month, with 3,346 sales compared with 5,198 in November 2005. The statewide median price for condos also took a hit, coming in at $206,000 versus $215,100 a year ago - a 4 percent decrease. This may make it more reasonable to use a Florida mortgage on a condo for the time being.