Orlando Home Prices Drop

Home prices in the core Orlando market took a seasonal dip in August, dropping from a midpoint of $170,950 in July to $165,000 last month, according to a report by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Prices typically soften after the peak of the summer buying season, but association officials said the decline was also the result of a large number of distress properties selling last month and further depressing the region’s median price.

Foreclosures have been on the rise, as have auctions of foreclosed properties. Earlier this month, RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings in the four-county Orlando metropolitan area during August had increased by a third from a year earlier and more than 20 percent from July. During August in Orlando, year-over-year prices increased 26 percent for short sales, which are bank-approved sales for less money than the mortgage owed on the property. The median price for foreclosure properties increased 9 percent. Prices for normal sales, meanwhile, increased only 5.5 percent from a year ago, according to the association report.

Overall home prices in the core market were up 6.4 percent year over year — a fraction of the 24 percent year-over-year increases that buyers and sellers realized last summer in Orlando.

Even with inventories swelling, buyers snapped up homes faster in August than in July. Homes of all types spent an average of 68 days on the market before coming under contract, which was similar to a year ago but down from 73 days reported in July.

Source: “Orlando home prices drop in August,” Orlando Sentinel (Sept. 15, 2014)