Gitta explains how selling in your home in the fall can happen just as easily as selling your home in the summer!
The market update data was derived from the Mid Florida Multiple Listing Service and deemed to be accurate.
The Seminole County residential real estate market is unfortunately still facing challenges. All sales for 2018 are currently 2% behind sales for 2017. A market decline affects some home seller different than others. So if you are in the lower priced category, the market is red hot, if you are in the luxury market, it is lukewarm and getting cooler. If your home was updated and it looks beautiful and it is priced correctly, your home will sell fast. How to price your property is one service an experienced Realtor can or should provide. We just sold a $1.3M home in 5 days on the market, this is not the norm.
There are 4 main factors driving the decline in residential real estate sales :
- A shortage of lower-priced housing inventory. Also, many of the homes on the market are priced too high and the condition of the homes are not meeting buyer expectations.
- There has been a steep increase in the price of homes.
- Buyers are demanding updated homes which are priced accordingly for the area.
- We are seeing an increase in mortgage rates.
Seminole County is experiencing a 2% decline in sales for condos, town-homes, single-family homes, and duplexes compared to the first 7 months of 2017. The steepest decline was 14% in Winter Springs, followed by Lake Mary at 12%, and Winter Park saw a 9% decline. The median sale price has increased by 8% from $230,000 to $250,000. The median per square foot saw an increase from $130.85 in 2017 to $140.85 in 2018.
It is important to mention that sections of Winter Park are in Orange County. The highest sale increases in 2018 compared to 2017 were Casselberry at 9% and Longwood at 7%
2018 Sales Compared to 2017 Sales
The Seminole County real estate market typically is an area with an abundance of lower-priced homes, but as we’ve mentioned already, there is currently a shortage of affordable homes on the market. This shortage results in an increase in the price of the homes that are available. Buyers are resisting the prices, and therefore are choosing not to purchase a home.
When we take a look at the luxury home market, which includes homes which are priced at $900,000, we see homes are sitting on the market for a long time. This situation results in a buyer’s market for those looking to purchase luxury homes. Overall, sales in the luxury market are 6% below sales in 2017. The home values have seen an average increase of 4% as compared to 2017.
The sold price versus the listed ratio is 96%, which a 3-point increase compared to 2017. Overall, the luxury home market has 25 months worth of unsold inventory! Based on the current available luxury home inventory and based on 4.7 homes selling per month, it would take 25 months to sell them. This is what we call a backlog of over supply.
Another way of analyzing the real estate market is to look at the pending home ratio. The higher the ratio, the higher the demand for homes. When we look at Seminole County, the pending ratio is 63%. This is considered a high ratio, meaning out of 100 homes, 63 are under contract. This is great!
In contrast, when we look at the luxury home market in Seminole County, the ratio is only 13%, which indicates a low demand for luxury homes. Heathrow Woods has a very low pending ratio of 8%. The table below shows the pending ratios for some of the major cities and subdivisions in Seminole County.
| Pending Ratio | |
| Heathrow Woods | 8% |
| Seminole County Luxury Homes | 13% |
| Winter Park | 20% |
| Heathrow | 24% |
| Lake Mary | 28% |
| Longwood | 38% |
| Casselberry | 39% |
| Sanford | 39% |
| Timacuan | 40% |
| Winter Springs | 42% |
| Oviedo | 44% |
| Crossings | 51% |
| Seminole County | 63% |
Below are some of the price increases in various cities and some subdivisions throughout Seminole County:
| Price Increases | |
| Heathrow Woods | 7% |
| Seminole County Luxury Homes | 16% |
| Winter Park | 7% |
| Heathrow | -7% |
| Lake Mary | 2% |
| Longwood | 11% |
| Casselberry | 7% |
| Sanford | 9% |
| Timacuan | 17% |
| Winter Springs | 10% |
| Oviedo | 7% |
| Crossings | 7% |
| Seminole County | 8% |
The prediction is that the market will soften. This means prices are expected to drop and inventory will increase. There’s no way of knowing when this will happen, but we see this talk all over the national real estate media publication. If you are a seller, it’s important to make sure your home is updated and priced correctly. Buyers are not willing to pull the trigger if one of these components is missing. In the meantime, I am happy to help you with any of your home buying or selling needs!
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