9.11.2009 | Orlando home sales prices down (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The pipeline of foreclosed houses hitting the market in Orlando have dropped sales prices and the backlog isn't expected to disappear anytime soon, new reports show.
The median price of homes dropped from $133,000 in July to $128,000 in August — a trend that Les Simmonds, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, expects to continue as the tremendous inventory of bank-owned and distressed sales work their way though the market. The association released it August report of member sales Friday.
" ... with these types of homes accounting for nearly 50 percent of sales in Orlando, they are naturally creating a downward distortion in median price," said Simmonds, of L.G. Simmonds Real Estate Corp. "It's important for owners to keep in mind that the distorted median price doesn't equate to a similar loss of values for traditional homes in good condition."
Real estate professionals continue to work hard to differentiate "normal" sales from forced ones, although the bargain sales are forcing down prices of all types of homes. The median price for a traditional-type sale was $165,000 in August, similar to the previous month. In comparison the bank-owned homes sold for a median of $84,050, down slightly from July, and distressed sales posted a median price of $125,800, which was down about 10 percent from a month earlier.
Compared with a year ago, median sales prices are down by more than a third while sales activity was up 65 percent from August 2008. In addition, metro Orlando has more than twice the number of pending sales than it did a year ago. And 3,324 sales contracts were filed in August, an increase of 96 percent from a year earlier.
Homes were on the market an average of 93 days before being sold and the average house sold for 94.39 percent of its listing price. A year ago, houses sat on the market 113 days and fetched 92.81 percent of their asking price. The area's average interest rate decreased in August to 5.26 percent.
The inventory level's 7.74-month supply for August is just a fraction above July's level, which was 7.49 and the lowest since July 2006.
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