Central Florida’s real estate market was booming throughout 2021 and, according to the latest data, that trend is expected to continue into 2022, news that’s especially good for homeowners in the Sunshine State. Let’s take a closer look at the stats and what they mean for you.
According to Florida Realtors Annual Market Report, single-family home prices increased by 25.8% last year, a notable statistic for anyone considering selling their home in the near future. The average sale price of a home in 2021 was $505,129, compared to $401,478 in 2020. Have you checked the value of your home lately? You may want to.
Also increasing last year – by 12.9% – was the number of homes sold, with more than 350,000 closings across the state of Florida. Of the 350,516 closed sales, 104,651, or 29.9% of them were cash transactions. That’s 53.2% more cash transactions than the previous year, according to the report.
Another interesting item from the Annual Market Report but one that should come as no surprise based on what we’ve seen over the last several months: Florida homes are going quickly, selling 26.7% faster than the previous year, in only about 55 days. That means buyers are having to think and act quickly if they want to compete in this hot seller’s market.
Inventory remains low in Florida, according to the report, down by 33.7% compared to the previous year. According to Florida Realtors, inventory falls when new listings aren't keeping up with the rate at which homes are going off-market. How low is inventory right now? Well, month supply is the best indicator of the seller and buyer demand. Six months of inventory is considered normal, and, according to the latest data from Florida Realtors, Florida has about one month of inventory, compared to the same time the previous year, when there were slightly less than two months of inventory. The data makes it clear there are still not enough houses to meet buyers’ demands.
Now that we’ve discussed a recap of Florida’s real estate market in 2021, let’s take a look at how we closed out the year in our Central Florida markets, specifically.
Of the more than 350,000 closed sales that took place in Florida last year, 15,151 of them were in the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metropolitan statistical area (MSA), which includes Flagler and Volusia counties. That’s an 11.4% increase in that market from sales in 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median sale price for homes in that market in 2021 was $290,000, up more than 18% from the previous year. Of the 15,151 sales, more than 1,400 of them closed in December alone. The number of closings for that month was up 5.4% compared to December 2020. Another impressive figure: In December 2021, the median price of a home in the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach MSA was $321,000, up by more than 25% compared to December 2020.
The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA, which includes Lake, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties, saw 41,506 closings in 2021, up 14.5% from the previous year. More than 3,450 of those closings took place in December. The number of closed sales in December 2021 was actually down by 2.5% for that MSA compared to December 2020. The median sale price of a home in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA in 2021 was $356,899, an 18.4% increase from the median sale price the previous year. In December, specifically, the median sale price of a home was $388,318, 23.3% higher than in December 2020.
Last year, there were 1,909 closed sales in The Villages, Florida, which is in Sumter County. That’s 43.3% more closed sales than that MSA saw in 2020. Of the more than 1,900 closings, 144 of them took place in December. When it comes to the price of homes in The Villages, Florida, the region saw a median sale price of $318,000 last year, up 13.6% from the previous year. The median sale price in December was $342,500, up 18.1% from the median sale price in December 2020.