Hold on tight, because it looks like 2013 is going to be some kind of ride. If December of 2012 is any indication of what we are going to see in 2013, there will be some pretty great expectations. Starting with the active inventory which is down almost 25% from a year ago. There are currently 6,852 homes listed active on the market by Orlando Realtors compared to 9,101 a year ago. Based on last month's sales of 2,550 we are down to a 2.7 month supply compared to 4.0 months a year ago. That is less than half of the six months supply that we generally consider a balanced market. Of the homes listed available there are 819 or 12.0% REO, 1,255 or 18.3% short sales and 4,778 or 69.7% equity sales. Pending sales are also declining with fewer homes coming on the market, and very large decline in the number of short sales. There are currently 8,760 homes listed under contract. Of those 1,008 or 11.5% are REO, 6,150 or 70.2% are short sales and 1,602 or 18.3% are equity sales.
Sales have been more brisk than our winter so far. There were 2,550 closed sales in December. That is up compared with the prior month's 2,428 and nearly 11.5% higher than December 2011's 2,287. Prices have followed suit. The median price last month hit $130,000 which is up from November's $126,425, and is 13% higher than last year's $115,000. Of the closed sales, 531 or 20.8% are REO, 780 or 30.6% are short sales and 1,239 or 48.6% are equity sales. The median price of REO sales is $88,500, short sales is $105,000 and equity sales is $169,208. Cash purchases are still making up the majority of our closings, even as prices climb. There were 1,361 or 53.4% cash sales last month with a median price hitting $90,000 for the first time. The remaining 1,189 or 46.6% of our sales had some form of financing and a median sales price of $167,000. Unless there is some major change, the limited supply of homes and strong demand for housing will push our median price back into the $150,000 range by the end of this year.
David Welch Real Estate Optimist, Orlando Real Estate, Search for Homes
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