Orlando Housing Market Improving; Inventory Still High

Homes sales continued to fall in the first quarter, but their value increased, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association/Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund report.

In the Orlando housing market, 10,929 single-family homes were sold during the first quarter of this year, down from 12,023 sold in the last quarter of 2006 and 15,707 during the first quarter of last year, according to the association.

The first-quarter average sales price was $336,657 for new homes in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties and $293,301 for existing homes. The number increased from the $327,692 for new homes in the fourth quarter of 2006 and $291,781 for existing homes.

Hank Fishkind, chief economist for Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, says higher closing volumes for Florida mortgage borrowers and firming prices throughout the state confirm things have stabilized after contracting sharply during the last 12 to 16 months.

In addition, new homes inventory is smaller in most Florida real estate markets, as closings volume is higher than the pace of new construction.

Fishkind predicts the local market will continue to improve over the next 24 months, but it will take at least another year before the recovery reaches “normal” levels for Osceola, Orange and Seminole, and another 18 months for Lake County.

New home sales during the first quarter were 4,084 and 6,845 were existing homes. Last year, the first consisting of 5,325 new homes and 10,382 existing.

Sales through the Multiple Listing Service the first quarter totaled 5,890, which was 53.9 percent of the 10,929 homes sold. That number fell from the 55.5 percent in the first quarter of last year.

Of the single-family existing home sales, 84.9 percent were through the MLS, a slight increase over the 82.1 percent in 2006’s first quarter.