Market Pulse Report - July 2013

It's exciting to see that there are finally more homes on the market. Still not as many as one would like when dealing with so many buyers, however I'm seeing that there are definitely more options for my buyers.

There's some great news for sellers as well! Single-family home sales INCREASED by almost 18% compared to this time last year and normal sales are making a comeback (finally!) as they showed an increase by 55%. Traditional sales account for 65% of the total sales. This is great news!

The best good news for sellers is that the median price for existing homes has increased.

I love seeing that short sales decreased by almost 30%. Hopefully we'll start getting back to having a regular level of short sales, rather than the influx we've seen over the past 7 years.

Here's the rundown of what's going on in today's market:


Sales
*Orlando home sales (all home types combined) in July 2013 were up 15.28 percent when compared to July of 2012 and up 6.67 percent when compared to June 2013.

*Single-family home sales in the Orlando area increased by 17.89 percent in July when compared to July of last year. Villa sales increased by 19.18 percent; condo sales decreased 1.14 percent.

*Of the 2,836 sales in July, 1,855 normal sales accounted for 65.41 percent of all sales, while 491 bank-owned and 490 short sales respectively made up 17.31 percent and 17.28 percent.

*The number of normal sales in July increased by 55.88 percent compared to July 2012, while short-sales decreased 29.39 percent and foreclosures decreased by 14.76 percent.

*The 7,990 pendings in July of this year is a decrease of 17.66 percent compared to the 9,704 pendings in July of last year (and a 5.34 percent decrease compared to the 8,441 pendings last month). (But at least we're increased from last month!)

*Short sales made up 55.16 percent of pendings in July. Normal properties accounted for 31.40 percent and bank-owned properties accounted for 13.44 percent.

*Sales of existing homes within the entire Orlando MSA (Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties) in July were up by 11.90 percent when compared to July of 2012. Throughout the MSA, 3,377 homes were sold in July 2013 compared with 3,018 in July 2012. To date, sales throughout the MSA are 9.09 percent above this time last year.

Each individual county’s monthly sales comparisons are as follows:

• Lake: 25.54 percent above July 2012;
• Orange: 10.30 percent above July 2012;
• Osceola: 4.02 percent above July 2012; and
• Seminole: 13.08 percent above July 2012.

Median Price
*The median price of all existing homes combined sold in July 2013 — $157,000 — is a 24.60 percent increase from the $126,000 median price recorded in July 2012.

*The median price for "normal” existing homes sold in July is $185,000, an increase of 10.45 percent from the median price of "normal” existing homes in July 2012.

*The year-to-year median price for short sales increased by 13.64 percent to $125,000 in July, while the median price for bank-owned sales increased by 16.99 percent to $105,000.

Inventory
*There are currently 8,099 homes available for purchase through the MLS. The July 2013 overall inventory level is 0.09 percent lower than it was in July 2012; inventory is up 6.34 percent compared to June 2013.

*Year-to-year single-family home inventory is down 2.15 percent; condo inventory is up 2.53 percent.

*The current pace of sales translates into 2.86 months of inventory supply.

Other
*New contracts are up 1.83 percent compared to July of 2012. New listings are up 17.78 percent.

*The Orlando affordability index decreased to 180.54 percent in July. First-time homebuyer affordability in July decreased to 128.38 percent.

*Homes of all types spent an average of 62 days on the market before coming under contract in July 2013, and the average home sold for 96.69 percent of its listing price.