Orlando Real Estate

I was just checking a few numbers for March, and the inventory looks like it might be creeping up just a bit in anticipation of the spring selling season. The number of distressed properties seems to be holding at about the same level. In the tri-county area there are about 9,400 homes that are identified as short sales, in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure, bank owned or requiring 3rd party approval. That number has been pretty steady since last month. The number of pending sales in the same area has risen to over 5,200 which is just crazy. So far this month, there have been 733 closed sales by members of the Orlando association with 1,844 pending sales that are expected to close before the end of this month. A lot of those will not close, but even if only 1/3 of them close we are looking at about 1,400 closed sales this month. We did not hit 1,400 until the peak months of June and July last year. Of the 733 closed so far the median price is $139,900. Look for that to end up lower by months end because the median asking price of the 1,844 pending with expected closings in March is $134,900. So we could see yet another big drop. Along with the price drops, interest rates have also taken a tumble to below 5%.

David Welch, Real Estate Optimist