FAR: Condo Sales Up 77% Over Year

ORLANDO-At least 5,000 residential condominium units were sold statewide in September, 77% more than the same month last year and up 9% from August, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. For the same time frame, the median price is one-third lower at $102,500.

All but one of the state’s metropolitan areas showed a gain in condo sales, and a majority of those have posted increased sales for 15 consecutive months. At the same time, however, foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price, the Orlando-based association reports.

Condo sales are a mixed bag from one Florida metro to the next. In Orlando, 587 units traded in September, four times as many as a year ago, yet the local median price fell by half to $52,600.

Meanwhile, Pensacola condo sales volume increased slightly over the year to 48 units and the median price rose 6% to $190,000. And in Daytona Beach, sales of existing units nearly doubled from a year ago to 140 while the median price declined 25% to $176,900.

State and national Realtors are pushing for an extension of the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers beyond Dec. 1 as a way to spur sales of condos and single-family homes. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, says extending the credit could help “achieve a more rapid and broader stabilization in home prices.”