A major real estate group has released July data on the Orlando housing market, which continues to inch towards pre-recession levels. The Orlando Regional Realtor Association said that July’s median home sales price reached $183,875, a 7.6% increase over 2014. Overall, prices are going up while the number of homes for sale is dropping.
For Orlando residents looking to purchase a home, the dwindling supply will make it more difficult to negotiate on price. Additionally, some of the increases on home prices came from the sale of foreclosed homes, which are up 13% since last year. The sales prices of non-foreclosure home sales only increased 1.2% year over year.
But there is good news, both for potential home buyers and the real estate market overall. More Orlando residents were granted mortgages than at any time since 2007, before the housing bubble imploded.
“Between great interest rates and prices that still haven’t reached their pre-bubble potential, Orlando’s housing market is very appealing to buyers and we need more sellers in order to keep up,” said Sharon Voss, the president of the Realtor association.
The latest sales figures from the major home improvement retailer Home Depot suggest that more sellers could be getting ready to enter the marketplace. Home Depot just announced that it saw a record-high number of transactions this summer, with shoppers spending more than at any time since 2006.
In fact, the average homeowner will spend 1-4% of their home’s value on home improvement and repairs annually, only to increase over time, and the latest Home Depot numbers also suggest increased spending on such projects. That could mean homeowners are getting their property ready for sale, according to Home Depot executives.
“We continue to see positive signs in the housing market,” said Carol Tome, Home Depot’s chief financial officer.
If Wall Street’s reaction is any indication, then Tome’s analysis could prove correct. After the sales data announcement, Hope Depot’s stock price jumped.
