Well, here we are...its 2008 and it seems we made it through another year. Contrary to what we often read in the press or view on television the real estate industry in Central Florida still exists and the sky hasn’t fallen.

Admittedly, it has been a difficult year. Orlando metro area inventory has reached record levels and buying transactions have significantly decreased. Many of the 26,000 homes on the metro market exceed 110 listing days and instead of a high of 2,800 homes sold in a month during our peak (March of 06) we have averaged just over a 1000 per month September through November this past year. And if that isn’t dreary enough ask any realtor how many purchase contracts they actually wrote this last quarter were fortunate enough to make it to closing and they probably will tell you about 50%. So we can look in the rearview mirror and dig up significant quantities of statistical analysis to prove the past 18 or so months have been really bad. And the negative forecasts for a continuation of a “worst ever” real estate market are also plentiful. Every day the press and news media bombard us with how bad things are. As I pen this article the latest headlines read “Worst New Home starts since 1995” Gee, what a great way to start my breakfast!

But is it all bad? Is there not one shred of positive signs or trends towards corrections in this market? Are there not some indications of positive statistics that can be reported on?

Is there any thing in this dark looming cloud that represents a glimmer of hope or retribution for our past housing sins?? Is it really that bad??

No, Chicken Little, while it has been bad there is a glimmer of hope, possibly a small silver lining in that dark cloud. It isn’t really all doom and gloom as we have heard of for the past year. And guess what! These are signs, trends and events that have been here all along and may have positive implications for sellers, buyers and the market for the upcoming year. Let’s consider the following:

While we may see a slight increase in inventory with the new year the fact that it leveled off in the last quarter of 07 is good news. It means many sellers’ are starting to understand the market is not to be tested and should be for only serious motivations. The possible implication could be more realistic listing prices.

This national news item seems to bolster our regional statistics. Orlando was one of the areas that experienced one of the most significant real estate appreciations which would indicate we will have continued pressure on prices into this new year. So while we may see recovery signs nationally we have further to go regionally and may lag behind in the corrective trends into the new year. However, we also have other mitigating factors in our favor that other areas don’t have, such as:

That is just under 1,000 people each day and Central Florida with its’ geographical location will attract a significant share of that “in-migration”. New homes, commercial realty and existing homes will be the beneficiary of our continued population increase.