Orlando Real Estate

2011 started off with a bang and a whimper. Sales for the first month of the new year were brisk with 2,060 closing reported last month - that is the bang. The median sales price was a pawltry $90,055 - that is the whimper. There were a couple of reasons for this drop in price from December's $100,000 sales price. First, REO's came back with a vengeance, with 1,024 or 49.7% of the closed sales with a median sales price of $70,950. REO's had been only about 38% of our sales in October and November then 44% in December. Another 527 sales were short sales making up 25.6% of our sales with a median price of $90,000. Equity sales accounted for only 24.7% of the total with a much lower median price of only $143,000 compared with $155,000 in December. Cash sales continue to dominate our market with 1,217 or 59.1% of closed sales coming in as all cash. Cash sales also have a big impact on our local prices with a median sales price of only $57,500. Financed sales of 843 or 40.9% of the total had a median sales price of $137,100.

Active listings have dropped 5.3% from December's 15,037 to 14,238 which is only a 6.9 month supply of listings based upon January's sales. Of the active properties for sale 2,060 or 14.5% are bank owned, 5,373 or 37.7% are short sales. While distressed properties for sale are down they remain just over half of our market of available homes. Pending contracts have continued to climb with 8,907 contracts accepted. Of those 2,210 or 24.8% are bank owned and 5,497 or 61.7% are short sales. Combined distressed properties make up 86.5% of all the properties currently under contract. Personally, I have five properties under contract with three short sales (two listings and one buyer), one REO and one new home sale. I also have two offer submitted; one short sale and one REO and I am working on two more offers today. Not a bad start for the first week of February.

David Welch Real Estate Optimist, Orlando Real Estate