REAL ESTATE TOPICS...Home prices slip -- even as housing market tightens

By Mary Shanklin

Just when median home prices in the core Orlando market seemed poised to break the $200,000 mark, they slipped slightly in April.

Usually a strong month for price growth, midpoint prices dipped in April to $191,900 from $195,000 a month earlier. Despite the one-month drop, prices rose about 10 percent from a year earlier, according to a new report by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. It reviews its members’ sales mostly for Orange and Seminole counties.

Digging deeper into the increased sales prices, it was condominiums and townhouses driving up the market more than single-family houses. The 14 percent increase in multi-family residences in April was almost double the price increase for houses.

John Lazenby, president of the volunteer group, said the Orlando area’s housing market last month was defined by sluggish sales and “ever-declining inventory.”

“The overall supply of available properties dropped by 10.9 percent year over year in April,” said John Lazenby, an agent with Colony Realty Group, Inc. “Orlando’s inventory has been dwindling for nearly a year now, with more homes being sold than are being added to the market nearly every month.”

Mounting frustrations from buyers are evident as the region’s supply of listings has fallen to almost half of what is considered a balanced market. In April, the supply slipped to 3.31 months, which was down from both a month and a year earlier.

As sales prices softened slightly from March, the volume of sales edged up to 3,159 in April — a 1.6 percent increase from a month before and a 3.3 percent increase from a year before.

Other pressures on Orlando-area buyers last month included faster sales. The average sales time in April was 70 days, down from 79 days a year earlier. And buyers’ negotiating power all but disappeared as they paid an average of more than 97 percent of the asking price. A year earlier, buyers paid an average of about 95 percent of the asking price.

Even though buyers were faced with fewer choices in April, they could enjoy lower interest rates. The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage in April was 3.63 percent, which was down from 3.70 percent a month ago and from 3.69 percent a year ago.