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Orlando Foreclosure Homes Continue to Pull Down Home Prices
August 26th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
The number of homes sold in Orlando, Florida totaled 2,141 in July, an increase of 45.45 percent compared with the same month the previous year. The July figures brought the annual total of home sales to 12,223, compared with last year’s 8,423.
Of the total home sales last month, 737 or 41.99 percent were Orlando foreclosure homes. The number of foreclosure homes sold was the reason why home prices failed to catch up with the rising sales in the area.
According to industry analysts, foreclosure properties continue to pull down home prices. This is because foreclosed houses are sold at below market prices and sellers of existing homes are forced to slash their prices in order to attract buyers.
Statewide, existing home sales increased in July for 11 consecutive months. Last month’s home sales also represented an increase compared with the previous month’s figures.
Sales of existing homes increased by 37 percent or 15,882 in July, compared with 11,595 properties sold for the same month the previous year. Compared with June figures, July sales of existing homes rose by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, statewide condominium sales in July rose by 48 percent. For the same month, existing home sales in 18 metropolitan statistical areas in Florida also inch up, as well as in condominium sales.
Last month, the median existing home sales price in Florida was $147,600, a 24 percent decline from the previous year’s $193,800. As with other areas in the country where home prices are languishing at the bottom, the drop in prices is blamed on the significant number of foreclosure homes for sale on the market.
Meanwhile, the median existing single-family home sales price in Florida was $181,600 in June, a decline of 15 percent from the same month a year ago.
Industry analysts said the continuing drop in home prices is a major reason why Florida experienced an increase in home sales. Buyers flocked to the market because of discounted prices and a wide selection of properties to buy.
Added to these reasons are the federal tax credit provided by the government to first-time homebuyers.
But analysts said that the current increase in home sales is not enough to assume that the housing market is recovering. They said that the rising unemployment rate is threatening to destroy whatever steps the housing market has made towards achieving a full recovery.
