News for UK buyers of Orlando property

Median price edges up for the month; closings and pendings soar for the year

Members of the Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association closed 51.83 percent more homes in December of this year than last, bringing year-to-date Orlando area sales to 59.31 percent above 2008. In addition, pending sales (homes with purchase contracts but awaiting completion of the closing process) finished out the year a whopping 150.02 percent above 2008.

There is currently more than double the number of pending sales (8,163) than in December of last year (3,265). A total of 2,984 sales contracts were newly filed in the month of December, which is a jump of 59.49 percent compared to December 2008 (1,871).

The median price of all existing homes combined sold in December 2009 increased 1.63 percent from November 2009. December 2009’s median price is a decrease of 25.37 percent compared to December 2008.

The median price encompasses all types of sales situations and home types; the tremendous number of bank-owned and short sales — plus all those very low-priced condo sales — drives the overall median price down.

Inventory decreased by 453 homes from November 2009, which means that 453 more homes left the market than entered the market. Compared to last year, the December 2009 inventory level is 30.97 percent lower than it was in December 2008.