Do you live or own real estate here in Central Florida? If so, you’ll want to read the latest Market Update about our local real estate market. This is the West Volusia Monthly Market update covering the residential West Volusia real estate market including Deltona, Deland, Debary, Lake Helen and Orange City for the month of February 2022.

In February the median sale price of a residential home was $295,000 according to the local MLS. That’s up about 17 grand in the last month and about $58,000 in the last year and an astonishing number for sure. It seems that every month I’m shocked at how things keep heating up, and then it happens again! The selling price to the original list price ratio is still 100%. It may be worth noting that almost all of my listings are selling way above that 100% number. As such, this 100% number is really not a real number as the local MLS caps out at 100%. Buyers-if you think you can buy most of these homes at the asking price, you’re just wearing rose colored glasses as it just isn’t reality today. In February it took 6 days for a home to get an acceptable contract in the West Volusia area, this is one full day faster than last month and 2 days faster than three months ago. That’s just one day off the fastest that homes are selling since the beginning of Covid when this market really shifted into overdrive. It’s important to know that this number is the median and includes those sellers who still have their homes on the market for like 3 years with unrealistic views of what their property is worth.

The number of active listings has gone down yet again, this time by about 7.5% in just one month and down by 31% in the last 3 months! This is the superpowered jet fuel that is giving sellers all the power in the market. In today’s market, buyers have a very limited ability to negotiate with sellers. If they try to, sellers are often able to push back and just move on to another buyer that wants or needs a home a little more.

According to Freddie Mac, buyers were paying around 3.9% interest for their homes at the end of February, that’s up from 3.55% in the last month and up from 2.77% back in early August. Yes, the rates have risen significantly, but they’re still at historically very low rates. And, more importantly for those looking to buy or sell in this market, they’ve had very little, if any impact on our local market as of yet.

So what’s impacting our market? Low interest rates continue to be one the biggest drivers and this issue is fueling the low inventory and this whole Seller’s Market that we’ve been in for the last few years. I believe that the war in Ukraine is keeping our interest rates low for now. Of course, we’re told that the Fed will be raising rates shortly to address an out-of-control inflation. We can only hope that they don’t overcorrect and send this market into the other direction, but of course, something has to be done to address inflation or it won’t be long that affordability will become an even bigger issue than it is today.

Where is the market heading? As things sit today, I don’t see any big changes in the short-term. Of course, when rates do rise it will take some time for the current shortage of housing inventory to be eaten up. How long that will take is anyone’s guess and I suppose depends on other factors like the war in Ukraine, inflation and maybe any new Covid variants. Given that prices in the West Volusia area tend to be lower than down in Orlando and over at the beaches, as prices rise, the West Volusia area will become even more desirable as a haven for buyers priced out of the aforementioned areas. For now, multiple offers with winning bids well above asking prices with appraisal gap addendums covering $10-$50k of appraisal shortfalls, the market is great if you’re a seller. If you’re a buyer, it’s a tough market, but sitting on the sidelines while the interest rates rise could be even riskier in my opinion.

If you have questions about the market’s future, or if you have any questions about the real estate market here in Central Florida, please contact us.

Published on March 28. 2022 / no comments.