With the mortgage gloom of late now compounding the real estate gloom, here's a reminder of why Orlando is still a great place to live - and why we're shielded from the worst of it. 1.) Industry continues to move here. Last week, another simulation company moved to Orlando citing Orlando as the "capital of simulation." Who knew? 2.) With so much industry moving here, unemployment is low. Unemployment was just 3.3% for January 2007. 3.) Spring travel numbers are up. This week, Orbitz placed [...]
There are many reasons that Orlando has not fallen victim to the much hyped housing bubble. The influx of baby boomers is one. They just love condos. Even an over supply like the one we are experiencing can only last so long in the face of a thousand new wrinklies a week. But an equally strong explanation has to do with the availability of work to those who have are still in the workforce. For the second straight year, Forbes has listed the Orlando-Kissimmee metropolitan area the fourth-best [...]
Florida's housing market mirrored the national trend in 2006, with sales of existing single-family homes slowing to a more sustainable pace following a five-year run of record closings. By year's end, a total of 180,037 homes changed hands statewide for a 28 percent decrease compared to the 248,575 homes sold in 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). At the same time, 2006 sales figures made it into the record books for several markets around the state; 2006 also is [...]
The Orlando Business Journal reports today that Florida held the #2 position in the nation for foreclosures in 2006, up 26.8 percent from 2005 - when we had the dubious distinction of being #1. That honor now goes to California who, according to Foreclosures.com suffered 157,417 foreclosures. However, such statistics fail to take account of the many incredibly varied markets that exist in both Florida and California. These are huge states. And Real estate is a local phenomenon - not just from [...]
According the Sentinel online, several projects including the Vue and Premier Trade Plaza, should see completion in the coming months, and despite a challenging year, others will be breaking ground. It's unlikely however, that all will be so successful. Several developments have been struggling to achieve the necessary presales required to break ground. The mixed use developments, on the other hand, seem to be finding it a little easier to secure funding. Projects likely to see success in 2007[...]
All this talk of a housing bust. It ignores the fact that real estate is a local phenomenon, which means that the reality is that some towns are doing ok and others are not. And of those that are not, some will recover quicker than others. The trick to investing in real estate is in figuring out exactly what's going on in the town you're looking to buy. According to UCF's Institute for Economic Competitiveness, the ongoing influx of people into the Orlando area means Orlando's (real estate) [...]
According to the NAHB, Builder confidence in the condominium market continued to erode in the third quarter of 2006. That wasn't exactly news to the real estate industry. So why do developers continue to build condos in such large numbers? It's a question I hear often in Orlando. The issue is this: most condo communities are very substantial developments compared to a single-family homes, and they take a long time to plan and build. Developers cannot simply turn off the supply overnight once [...]
Now here's something you probably knew: According to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR), Florida's housing sector continued to mirror the national trend during the third quarter 2006, showing higher levels of homes available for sale in many markets, and a slowdown in sales. Here's something you probably didn't know: NAR's latest economic outlook calls for existing-home sales to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter, with 2006 expected to be the third strongest year for sales after [...]
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