February's median sale price for homes of all types was $145,500. That was down about 2 percent from January's median and a record 34.8 percent annual drop from February 2008, mostly because so many of the homes sold last month were in some stage of foreclosure, their owners unable or unwilling to keep up with expensive subprime or adjustable-rate mortgages.
Also helping boost local sales: the federal government's new-homebuyer tax credit, and mortgage-interest rates that remained below 6 percent.
"Conditions are aligning very favorably in Orlando for buyers," said Les Simmonds, president of both the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and L.G. Simmonds Real Estate in Longwood.
Some economists had predicted that the Orlando area would climb out of the housing slump faster than other parts of the state and many regions of the country, and so far that seems to be the case.
Still, the market's relative lack of liquidity continues to frustrate many Central Floridians who would like to sell their home or would like to move to another area and buy a home. While the 1,219 resales reported last month by the Orlando Realtors was a marked improvement from the 951 homes sold in February 2008, it was still the second-worst showing for a February since 1999.
Tom Winfield, 72, of
Altamonte Springs has just about given up on his dream of moving to Texas to be near a daughter in the
Dallas area.
"You can't find a buyer, and if you find one, they can't get a loan. So the housing market, in a nutshell, is still lousy," Winfield said.
David Senra, 24, and his friend Krizia Wake, 23, just bought a unit in the Star Tower condominium in downtown Orlando. They got a good deal and shortened their commutes to work but they have been unable to sell their previous residence, a town house in Avalon Park.
"It's a good time to buy, but it's a tough time to sell," Senra said. "I'll hold on to it for a few years."
The inventory of homes listed for sale in the Orlando Realtors' core market which consists mainly of Orange and Seminole but includes some transactions in surrounding counties fell only slightly in February, defying the usual growth trend as the market heads into the prime, springtime selling season.
That's a sign many would-be sellers remain on the sidelines, put off by median prices that have now fallen to levels not seen in almost six years.
The 22,168 properties available for purchase last month through the Multiple Listing Service was down by 445 from January and nearly 15 percent below the total for a year ago. February's inventory, while still large by historical standards, was also the smallest it has been in two years, going back to February 2007, when 22,055 homes were listed for sale.
The homes sold last month had been on the market an average of 102 days, about the same as in January but well below the 123-day average of a year ago.
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