Sales of area high-end homes up 17%

Orlando Business Journal - October 4, 2006


Despite what you may be hearing on the streets about the housing market, homes priced at a million dollars or more are selling with better success than last year in the Orlando metropolitan statistical area.

Sales of those homes jumped 17 percent in the second quarter of 2006 compared to the year-ago period, according to data released by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund.

These figures include the sales of new and existing homes, and those sold through and outside of the Multiple Listing Service.

The report indicates that 156 luxury homes were sold during April, May and June of this year, while 133 were sold in the second quarter of 2005.

As a group, the counties encompassed by the Orlando MSA (Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole) posted a 17 percent increase of home sales valued at more than $1 million for the second quarter compared with second-quarter 2005.

Lake County experienced a 55 percent decrease in the number of million-dollar homes sold during the quarter compared with a year ago. Ten homes out of the 1,711 sold in the second quarter of 2006 fit into the million-plus category, whereas in second-quarter 2005, 22 homes out of 2,445 went for more than $1 million.

Thirty-eight percent more million-dollar homes sold in Orange County this quarter than a year ago. Orange County luxury homes accounted for 105 of the 5,563 homes that changed hands. The numbers for the second quarter a year ago were 76 out of 6,502.

Osceola County saw the biggest increase in the number of big-bucks homes sold in the second quarter -- a whopping 90 percent. Only 11 out of the 2,464 homes sold in Osceola County in the second quarter of 2005 were sold for more than $1 million, while in the second quarter of 2006, 21 of the 1,866 homes that changed hands cost at least $1 million.

And the percentage of homes sold in Seminole County surpassing the $1 million mark dropped by 17 percent in the second quarter, with 20 of 1,919 homes selling for more than $1 million, compared with 24 of 2,691 homes selling in the year-ago quarter.

In addition, million-dollar-plus existing homes are selling faster in 2006 in the greater Orlando area, according to ORRA's figures. The average number of days on the market has decreased by 8.3 percent to 144 days in 2006 compared with 157 days in 2005.

The MLS-only figures also show the inventory of available luxury homes currently mirrors that of existing homes in all price ranges. Inventory for million-dollar homes to date in 2006 is up 85.1 percent over 2005 (1,194 currently on the market compared with 645 in 2005).

"Some of the increase in inventory can be explained simply by the increase in values enjoyed by Orlando homeowners," says Orlando Regional Realtor Association President Beverly Pindling. "Homes that previously fit into a lower-priced category have simply been nudged into the upper echelons by their new, higher values."