ORLANDO, Fla. – After a year of rising interest rates, low inventory and affordability issues, real estate experts predict the Orlando area housing market outlook will improve in 2024.
In her 27 years of being a realtor in the Central Florida area, Rose Kemp says she’s never been more excited about the future.
“We’re the City Beautiful, we’re O-Town, and now we’re Boomtown,” she said. “The growth in Orlando’s exciting. Yes, there’s a lot of construction and it’s pushing out. I don’t care what sector you go into whether it’s Sanford, the Winter Garden area, Clermont area, St. Cloud, past Kissimmee, areas I didn’t even know they could build on. It’s insane.”
Even with new developments coming online to keep up with our growing population, home sales in the Orlando region were down 20% in 2023 compared to 2022.
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Kemp, who’s now president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, said higher interest rates caused many prospective buyers and sellers to wait on the sidelines.
Mortgage rates have been dropping in the last few months, but they’re nowhere near what we saw during the pandemic.
For example, if someone’s looking to buy a $400,000 home with 10% down at a 7% rate over 30 years, they’d have a monthly payment of around $2,700 – and that’s without factoring in taxes and insurance. If you took that same loan at the 2.5% rate we saw three years ago, the monthly payment drops to roughly $1,700.
The higher rates, though, have actually been a good thing for the market, according to Kemp. Inventory in the Orlando area is now at a four-month supply, which is the highest it’s been since 2019. The real estate market is considered balanced when there’s a six-month supply.
“What we’re seeing now is a healthy market,” Kemp said. “The median price is $389,000. It’s been tough, but it’s been tough because we had low inventory.”
With the Federal Reserve expected to cut rates in the coming months, Kemp says inventory could tighten back up. Her advice for those waiting for a better rate is to beat the rush.
“This is the time to get out there in the market because come spring and summer it’s going to be a frenzy,” Kemp said.
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