Orlando Real Estate

As of this morning the two most significant numbers I saw are inventory of 24,400, and median price of the sold homes at $170,000. What do these two numbers have in common? They are both down from last month. I have also been keeping an eye on distressed properties available which stands at 6,387 this morning. The distressed inventory is up from last month, but has been holding steady for a couple of weeks now around 6,400. I have discussed the inconsistencies with how those numbers are reported, but believe it to be a pretty good proxy. The other two numbers and the distressed properties go hand in hand in hand.

As the distressed properties have grown in number and dropped in price the median price has gone down significantly from the highs of 2006 and 2007 around $260,000. I posted in my Orlando real estate blog last week that prices have not been this low since 2004 (pre-boom). In June of 2004 our median price was $175,000. Sales lag prices, so as the big price reductions in the first part of this year started coming the sales have picked up. They are a little slower this time of year, but I suspect they should pick up nicely by the second quarter of 2009. The people jumping on homes right now are primarily first time home buyers taking advantage of the low prices, great selection, and the first time buyer tax credit.

David Welch, Orlando Real Estate Blog