March 2013 Pulse Report

It's been quite some time since I last reported on the market. The main point has not changed: INVENTORY has decreased and PRICES have gone up steadily.

Here's a quick overview of the numbers:

You'll note that the days a home is on the market has been continuously less than 90 days. I have seen this time and again. I show a property that has been on the market for 1-10 days, and then there are multiple offers and it goes into pending.

If you like a property, do not hesitate because you just very well may lose it. A positive example of this was a buyer of mine finding a home she liked. She waited the weekend and it was under contract. I contacted the agent and told her that if anything changed, please let me know ASAP as my buyer wanted the property and didn't realize how quickly it would get snatched up.

I kept in touch with that agent, and fortunately for us, that buyer did fall through and we stepped in as the main buyer. We're waiting for the bank approval and we will be able to close in 45 days.

Inventory
*There are currently 7,183 homes available for purchase through the MLS. The February 2013 overall inventory level is 22.37 percent lower than it was in February 2012.

*Single-family home inventory is down 25.40 percent; condo inventory is down 8.98 percent.

Sales
*Orlando home sales (all home types combined) in February 2013 were up 11.54 percent when compared to February of 2012 and up 9.33 percent when compared to January 2013.

*Single-family home sales in the Orlando area increased by 16.68 percent in February when compared to February of last year. Villa sales increased by 6.06 percent; condo sales declined 6.69 percent.

*Of the 2,203 sales in February, 1,195 normal sales accounted for 54.24 percent of all sales, while 521 bank-owned and 487 short sales respectively made up 23.65 percent and 22.11 percent.

*The number of normal sales in February increased by 51.07 percent compared to February 2012, while short-sales decreased 24.73 percent and foreclosures decreased by 2.98.

*Short sales made up 61.79 percent of pendings in February. Normal properties accounted for 25.96 percent and bank-owned properties accounted for 12.25 percent.