Orlando bucks housing trend

As home values shrink nationally for a 2nd straight quarter, the local market sees gains.
Jerry W. Jackson
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
May 3, 2007

Homeowners nationwide saw their home values dip for a second straight quarter during the first part of this year, a private survey reported Wednesday, though homes in Metro Orlando posted a 6 percent year-over-year increase.

The report by Zillow.com uses the online company's database of more than 70 million homes and a proprietary system to estimate median values for all homes in 46 metro areas -- not just homes that recently sold. That gives the index a broader scope than the monthly and quarterly median prices reported by local, state and national Realtor groups, which are based on sales.

Nationally, the online company said, housing values in the first quarter slipped 0.83 percent compared with the first quarter of 2006 and 1.01 percent from the last quarter of last year.

But in the Orlando area, all four metro counties posted year-over-year gains in the first quarter, and Lake and Osceola even recorded small increases from the fourth quarter.

According to the Zillow index, or "Zindex," Lake County's median home value -- half were higher and half lower -- was $208,047, up 17.06 percent for the year and 2.52 percent from the last quarter of 2006.

Osceola's median rose 13.4 percent for the year to $242,848, up 1.73 percent for the quarter.

Seminole County's median of $260,832 was up 4.96 percent year-over-year and down 1.32 percent for the quarter. Orange County's median rose 3.62 percent for the year to $244,915 and was off by 0.48 percent from the previous quarter. The whole metro area had a median of $241,755, up 6.02 percent year-over-year and 0.14 percent from the previous quarter.

Volusia County, which is outside Metro Orlando, had a median of $204,652, down 2.02 percent from a year ago and down 0.32 percent from the previous quarter. Brevard County was not included in the survey.

Home sales in the Orlando area remain sluggish. Real-estate professionals say the double-digit gains of recent years are history, now that the market is resuming a more normal pace.

"Homes are selling; it's just that the numbers are not as strong. It takes more effort and more marketing," said David DeLoach, broker-owner of DeLoach Real Estate Inc. in St. Cloud.

DeLoach said he expects sales and housing prices to hold up better in Florida, particularly Central Florida, than in many other parts of the country, at least over the long term. "There are ups and downs in the market, but the things that make Florida attractive are not going to change," he said.

For now, though, certain parts of Florida are leading the nation in median-price declines, according to the Zillow estimates. The Sarasota-Bradenton area, for example, was first among the 46 metro areas examined, with a 15 percent year-over-year decline.

The median is a standard benchmark for measuring home value or price appreciation and, more rarely, depreciation, though industry specialists note that it has limitations. The median can be skewed by the mix of larger and smaller homes, or newer and older homes, sold during a given period, though it is not as susceptible to such problems as the average value or price.