Ray of hope for Orlando-area housing
Looking for more signs of the local housing bottom? Here are some:
379 - That's the number of new homes that production builders started during
the first quarter in the South Lake County/Northeast Polk County market, up
25 percent from the last quarter of 2007... enough for Charles Wayne
Consulting Inc. to suggest in a research report Monday that the local
housing market "appears to have stabilized [or] bottomed-out over the last
two quarters."
557 - That's the number of new homes that buyers bought and closed on during
the first quarter in that same Lake/Polk market -- well above the number of
homes started during the same three-month time frame. Sales outpaced starts
for a third-consecutive quarter -- another bullish sign for Central Florida,
said Jim Lewis, president of Maitland-based Charles Wayne Consulting.
$276,300 - That was the average sales price of the 557 houses, condos and
town homes sold during the first quarter -- virtually unchanged from the
fourth quarter ... so the price declines appear to have stabilized or slowed
in recent months in that key growth market.
What's ahead? - "Look for construction starts to climb even more," the
real-estate research company predicted, as "demand continues to eat away at
standing inventory."
Posted: 17 June 2008
Source: Orlando Sentinel
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