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Report: Orlando home market stabilizing

04-30-09
Teresa Parker
Source: Orlando Business Journal - by Anjali Fluker Staff Writer

The latest home starts and inventory data is pointing to a market stabilization, according to the latest report from Metrostudy.

There were 863 single-family housing starts in Orlando subdivisions during the first quarter of 2009, which is down 41 percent from the 1,463 starts reported during the same period a year ago, the report said.

Construction starts also remained at the same rate from fourth quarter 2008 through this year’s first quarter, which could signal a bottom in new-home construction activity, the report said.

Single-family inventory — homes under construction, finished but vacant and model homes — was 4,961 in the first quarter, an eight-month supply. That is 34.1 percent lower than the same period in 2008. The under-construction category for the last 12 months through the end of March also declined 1,234 units to 1,414 units.

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New homes on Polk side of Poinciana now start at $76 a square foot

04-27-09
Teresa Parker

By Mary Shanklin | Sentinel Staff Writer April 27, 2009

Prices for new, single-family homes in the Orlando area hit an apparent new low last week as Avatar Properties Inc. introduced a series of three- and four-bedroom floor plans starting at $77,800 in an effort to compete amid one of the region's hardest-hit areas for foreclosures — Poinciana.

Two years ago, the asking price for the same model house was about $120,000, according to Avatar sales agents in the Villages of Poinciana, in Polk County. The entry-level price includes 1,015 square feet of space — that's $76 a square foot — and a two-car garage on an 80-foot-wide lot.

The company is marketing similar models that start at 1,620 square feet and prices in the $120,000s for its Deerwood Estates development on the Osceola County portion of Poinciana, where its lots are 70 feet wide.

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Silver Lining: Home sales, prices fell in March but low mortgage rates and tax credit drive interest

04-24-09
Teresa Parker
Source: Winston-Salem Journal ; The Associated Press

MIAMI - Sales of existing-homes in the South fell 8 percent in March, compared with the year before, while prices also continued to drop as sellers competed with distressed property sales and lured first-time home buyers, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.

The median sales price of an existing home in the South sank 12 percent to $146,900, the Realtors group said, a sign that foreclosures still are dragging down prices as banks price the homes cheaply to reduce inventory.

On a national, non-seasonally adjusted basis, existing-home sales dropped 4 percent from March of last year, while the median sales price slid 12 percent to $175,200, the Realtors reported.

However, there were positive signs in the Southern housing market as low mortgage rates and a new $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers spurred buyer interest. The drop in March sales on a year-over-year basis was half the rate of decline of 16 percent seen in January and February. Read More...
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Tax Credit might be shot in the arm for first time home buyers...

04-08-09
Teresa Parker
Source:Jerry W. Jackson |Sentinel Staff Writer, Orlando Sentinel

A coalition of powerful groups, including the Orlando-based Florida Association of Realtors, is lobbying the state to find a way to advance first-time homebuyers a new, $8,000 federal tax credit designed to spur home sales.

Many first-time buyers have the income and credit to qualify for a home loan but need help with the down payment, said Cynthia Shelton, an Orlando Realtor and current president of the statewide trade group. Fronting the money for the new tax credit could draw more qualified buyers into the slumping home market sooner, she said.

A study by Miami-based economist Antonio Villamil concluded last week that "front loading" the tax credit, part of the federal government's stimulus package, would give Florida's economy a significant boost — equivalent to creating 33,206 jobs and generating $514 million in federal, state and local tax revenue.

"I was in Tallahassee last week and I met with some senators. We're pressing like mad to get this through," Shelton said. Read More...
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Bargains get area's homes moving

02-28-09
Teresa Parker

The Orlando Sentinel released a report this Thursday regarding home sales in Metropolitan Orlando and the State of Florida this past January. Metropolitan Orlando started the year strong with 1,127 single family resales, up 28% from January of last year. An increase in the number of distress sales and a 32% drop in the median price no doubt have an impact on the numbers.

The full story can be read here.

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