Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Orlando Sentinel



Sales of condominiums in the Orlando area have cooled and are now contributing to the year-over-year decline in existing-home sales in the slowing local market, according to new report today.

The number of existing condos sold slipped 12.2 percent in May to 419, the first time this year the condo sector has turned negative compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association's monthly report. The number of existing single-family homes sold in the Orlando market dipped 4.4 percent in May to 2,070.

Nearly 7,000 more homes were added to the local Multiple Listing Service during the month, pushing the total number of single-family homes for sale in the Orlando area to a record 18,179, the group reported.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see us at 20,000 by the end of the year," said Scott Hillman, president of Fannie Hillman and Associates in Winter Park. Despite the growth in the number of homes for sale, though, prices in the Orlando area are "holding fairly well," Hillman noted.

The median home price - half sold for less and half for more -- rose to $252,990, a healthy 13 percent higher than the same time a year ago.

"If you price your home right, even based on 2005 numbers, and you're in an established area, you're going to be under contract in 60 to 90 days. That's the way I see it. And that 60-to-90 days is a normal market to me," Hillman said.

Last year, homes in the core Orlando market, mainly Orange and Seminole counties, sold in less than a month during the peak of the hot sales market. But the average time on the market rose to 52 days in May, the longest wait in two years.

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