Existing single-family homes outsold new homes sales in fourth-quarter 2008, according to a new joint report by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund.
A total of 4,026 existing single-family homes sold in the fourth quarter, nearly three times the 1,429 new single-family homes that sold in the Orlando metropolitan statistical area. That compares with 3,961 existing single-family home sales and 2,585 new single-family home sales in the same period in 2007.

Association members sold 4,757 homes through the Multiple Listing Service, 87.2 percent of total 5,455 new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2008. In fourth-quarter 2007, 59.6 percent of all homes were sold through the MLS.
The fourth-quarter 2008 median home price for an existing home in the Orlando MSA was $168,000, while the Orlando core — mainly Seminole and Orange counties — posted a median home price of $180,000.

The average price for a new single-family home was $248,104 in the fourth quarter of 2008, 16.7 percent down from fourth-quarter 2007’s $297,943. The average existing single-family homes sales price was $217,814, a 22.7 percent decline from fourth-quarter 2007’s $281,755.
The average price of single-family homes in the Orlando MSA reached its maximum price of $285,840 in January 2008, while existing single-family home prices peaking at $304,661.

The report also forecasts that the recession will end by 2010, but as Florida and the national economies restructure, “the economic damage will be significant and long lasting.”
The information in the report is based on MLS data — new and existing homes sold by Realtors — from the Orlando Regional Realtor Association along with sales information through deed data — homes sold through and without Realtors — compiled by Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund.

Source: BizJournal