Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Home prices hit a new record high in metro Orlando.
Despite a decline in home sales and a jump in inventory, local home prices climbed again last month, according to data released by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association on July 15. Tapering sales and more homes on the market give buyers a little more negotiating power, though the metro is still far from building up enough inventory to become a balanced market, Realtors say.
Here’s a closer look at how metro Orlando’s housing market performed in June:
- Home sales: There were 3,793 existing home sales last month, down 3.9% from 3,946 sales in May. It also was a 14% drop from 4,414 sales in June 2021.
- Inventory: Home inventory surged 41% month-over-month, and there were 1,586 more homes on the market in June compared to May. It was the second straight month of big supply bumps, as inventory grew 44% month-over-month in May. Even with all these new homes on the market, there’s only a 1.4-month supply of houses (six months of supply is considered a balanced market).
- Days on market: Homes still sell fast. Properties spent an average of 20 days on the market in June, less than the 21 days they spent on the market in May and the 29 days they averaged in June 2021.
- Prices: For the fifth consecutive month, the median sales price hit a record high: $387,000. That was up 1.9% from the month before and up 22.9% since June 2021. Even as other housing market metrics cool off, the median home price is increasing at similar or faster rates compared to the past year.
The local housing market, active before the Covid-19 pandemic, took off in the summer of 2020 and brought nearly two years of an unprecedented seller’s market. While home sellers still have the upper hand, demand is slowing as mortgage rates climb from record lows and concerns over an economic recession grow.
For example, more local homes had price cuts in June than at any point since 2019, Redfin Corp. reported. Buyers are “far more calculated” with their offers today as higher mortgage rates make homes more expensive, Armel Real Estate Inc. broker Deanna Armel previously told OBJ.
Meanwhile, metro Orlando ranked eighth in the country for markets with the most canceled home deals in June. That could be a sign buyers are discouraged by rising rates or that they’re finding other opportunities.
Realtor Christine Elias doesn’t see many primary homebuyers run out of the market by higher mortgage rates, she told OBJ. However, sellers aren’t getting as many offers as they were last year, and prices are stabilizing, said Elias, founder of Winter Park-based Urban Dog Group at Coldwell Banker Realty.
Local housing market trends are important, as every home sale in the state has an estimated local economic impact of $112,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. In addition, the housing market often is considered a reflection of the local economy’s overall health.