Real-estate sales
are winding down after a busy summer in Central Florida.
Home sales in the Orlando metro region — and statewide — flattened out from a year earlier on the heels of a robust sales cycle when closings were up almost 30 percent from a year before, a new report shows.
“The Florida real-estate market is catching its breath after a frantic summer and early fall,” said Florida Realtors chief economist John Tuccillo. “One month’s numbers do not make a trend, but the October numbers are signaling a return toward a more balanced market.”
Across all of Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties last month, 2,668 houses sold last month — only 41 more sales than in October 2014. The slim increase marks a stark contrast from recent months. In July, for instance, the region had 3,314 sales, which was 730 more than a year earlier, according to Florida Realtors.
Though Central Florida’s October sales were up just 0.8 percent from a year earlier, sales across the state similarly edged up only 1.2 percent.
Even though sales have leveled off from the fall of 2014, more real-estate agents are competing for business. Last year, 25,845 new real-estate agents got their Florida license, up from 23,137 the year before, according to the state.
Prices for both Orlando and the state were up about 12 percent in October from October 2014. The Orlando region’s median price of $199,590 was virtually the same as the state’s midrange price of $198,995.
The Orlando real-estate market differed from markets statewide in terms of condo-minium-price gains. Condo and townhome prices in Metro Orlando reached a median of $120,000 in October — up 20 percent from a year earlier. Throughout the state, condo and town-home prices were at a midpoint of $150,000 in October, which was an increase of just 7.2 percent from October 2014.
In terms of what’s available for sale, Florida had a 4.4-month inventory of listings supply for single-family homes in October and a 5.3-month supply of condos and town homes — both showing little or no change from a month earlier. Most analysts consider a sixmonth supply as a balanced market for buyers and sellers.