Regional Spotlight: In Orlando, Median Price Rose 2.5% to $267,000 in First Quarter

RISMEDIA, May 17, 2007-(MCT)-A trio of reports out Tuesday showed existing-home sales and prices falling in the first quarter, home builders’ confidence slumping, and foreclosures rising across the country.The reports reflected the nation’s ongoing housing downturn, though there were some positive signs.

Existing-home sales including condos slipped 6.6% nationwide during the first three months of the year compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price for a single-family home dipped 1.8% to $212,300, the National Association of Realtors reported.

Florida’s 25.1% decline in sales was the third-worst showing among U.S. states, trailing only Hawaii’s 25.5% and Nevada’s 27.4%.

Prices showed some strength, though, with the median sales price for single-family homes rising in 82 of 145 metro areas compared with the first quarter of 2006. Orlando’s median was up 2.5% to $267,000. (That’s higher than the median reported by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association in its recent monthly reports because the local median for the core Orlando market — mainly Orange and Seminole counties — includes condo prices. Also, the National Association of Realtors arrives at its estimates through a sampling of the area’s activity.)

The national report showed that the median in Brevard County (the Melbourne-Titusville metro area) fell 8% during the quarter to $191,300 for single-family homes, while the median in Volusia County (the Daytona Beach-DeLand metro area) dipped 7.3% to $197,000.

In other reports:
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of sentiment fell to 30 this month from 33 in April, as mortgage defaults increased. Readings below 50 mean most home builders see conditions as poor. The index reading of 30 matched last September’s level, the lowest since February 1991.

Foreclosures nationwide in April rose 62% from the same month a year ago, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based online foreclosure-tracking company. April’s 147,708 filings — default notices, auction-sale notices and bank repossessions — were down 1% from March, when foreclosures had hit a two-year high.

RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio noted that foreclosures subsided a bit last spring and summer, but he also said it’s too early to tell if April’s decrease from March was the start of a similar trend.

In Florida, mortgage foreclosures in April were up 71.47% from the same month a year ago but up just 0.1% from March. Florida had the seventh-worst rate of filings during the month, with one for every 510 households. Nationally, the rate was one filing for every 783 households.

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