Median price, affordability index, and inventory all hold steady in October
Acording to the Orlando Realtor, the official news publication of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, the median sales price of a single-family home in the Orlando area held steady at $235,000 for the second month in a row, reports the Orlando Regional Realtor® Association. The median price for October 2007 is 7.4 percent below that of October 2006 ($253,745), and the year-to-date median home sales price ($246,150) is a mere 0.75 percent below 2006 ($248,000).
The number of sales in the Orlando area declined by 45.5 percent in October 2007 compared to October of last year (1,034 to 1,896). However, the number of sales that took place in October 2007 increased over the number of sales that occurred in September 2007 (970). Year-to-date sales for 2007 (14,583 through October) are down by 38.66 percent over the same period in 2006 (23,774).
The area’s average interest rate was 6.21 percent in October 2007 — which held steady from September and represents a decline from the August average rate of 6.60 percent.
The drop in the median home price to $235,000 that took place in September means that the area’s affordability index has improved by more than seven percentage points to 92.5 percent over the last few months. (An affordability index of 92.5 percent means that buyers earning the state-reported median income are 7.5 percent short of the income necessary to purchase a median-priced home.) Buyers who earn the median income of $51,161 can qualify to purchase one of 6,564 homes in Orange and Seminole counties currently listed in the local multiple listing service (MLS) for $217,375 or less.
The first time homebuyer affordability index again rested in October at 65.8. Homes of all types spent an average of 112 days on the market before being sold in October 2007; and the average home sold for 93.96 percent of its original asking price. In September, those numbers were 111 and 93.41 percent, respectively.
The majority of single-family homes (197) that changed hands in October 2007 were sold for between $200,000 and $250,000, while another 152 homes were sold for between $250,000 and $300,000. Two-hundred fifteen homes sold for less than $200,000 in October, and 279 sold for more than $300,000. On the far ends of the scale, 18 homes were sold for $1 million or more while only 3 homes sold for less than $50,000.
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