According to a recent report released by the Orlando regional realtor association the amount of inventory (available homes on the market) increased in January as sellers held out through the holidays before placing their homes on the market.
Some 1,426 new homes were added to the amount of inventory in January's MLS. Typically January does see a spike in homes available as many people prefer not to sell during their vacation time or over the holiday period.
The median sales price also dropped in one month by 1.22% or $2,750 from December '07. The median price for January '08 is 11.06% lower than that of January '07.
The decrease in the median home price at $222,250 is good news for first time home buyers. The affordability index continues to improve and in January '08 Orlando has a reported affordability index of 104.9 percent. An affordability index over 100 means that median income earners in Central Florida (earning $51,392) make more than is required to purchase one of the 7,713 homes available on the real estate market.
Sales have declined in Orlando by 48.54 percent in January compared to that of January last year. However, the number of homes under contract increased in January over December by a little over 200 homes.
Interest rates continue to remain very low at this time with the average interest rate of 5.60% for January '08. Compare that to August '07 when the interest rates were 6.60%.
There are more and more bank owned foreclosure homes coming onto the market. Many of these homes fall way below the median price as the banks are motivated to get them off their books and do what they do best, which is write loans. For more information about these bank owned property or Orlando real estate, please contact me directly at (407) 346-5331.
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