Orlando Real Estate

Is a new home on your Christmas list? So far this month numbers are looking pretty good for December. There have been 386 sales closed so far with a median sales price of $106,000. At this pace, we will probably see another 1,900 sales month. Of the sales closed this month 140 or 36.3% have been bank owned, 107 short sales for 27.7% and 139 equity sales representing 36%. Prior to the foreclosure mess in October bank owned properties were accounting for 50% of our local sales. The median price of bank owned is up a little to $77,500 compared to $70,000 last month, but short sale prices are down from $107,000 in November to $87,750 so far in December. Equity sales median prices are also down from last month's $155,000 to $148,000 as of today. Cash sales continue to have a major impact on our local market as investors snap up bargains. Of the 386 sales closed, 205 or 53.1% have been cash sales with a median sales price of $61,500.

Pending sales remain very strong with 9,074 homes under contract. Distressed properties continue to account for the bulk of pending contracts making up 86.5% with 2,120 foreclosure and 5,728 short sale contracts. The number of homes available for sale has increased back to 15,444 as banks have brought several hundred foreclosures to market in the last two weeks. When some of the largest banks self-imposed a foreclosure halt back in October there was a drop in the number of bank owned properties on the market. Since the banks lifted this halt, the number of REOs has rebounded to 2,249 from the 1,737 I recorded in my blog ten days ago. I have two sales closing later this month, and both are equity sales. I am wondering if we are seeing just a temporary time out on REO sales, or if there is a new trend developing favoring equity sales.

David Welch Real Estate Optimist, Orlando Real Estate, Any Home-Any Phone