If you keep saying “it’s not a bubble” to yourself, eventually it has to be true, right?
In a sign that’s either troubling or amazing depending on how much property you currently own and your long-term memory, the average value of a house in Orlando just passed its previous high set in 2006.
According to the Zillow Home Value Index shared in their recent market report the average home in the Orlando area was worth $285,049 last month. That’s nearly $2,000 more than the previous high-water mark of $283,188, set in October of 2006. If you were lucky enough not to live through the aftermath of that boom time, Zillow’s chart of home values is a good crash course in what happened next.
Home values tanked as the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis came to a head. The seeming magic with which banks were able to generate money for home loans turned out to be just as fake as a handkerchief trick and Orlando’s housing market cratered.
To the credit of this particularly overheated housing market, it’s not anywhere near as frantic as the years leading up to the market crash. As you can see in the chart above, the rise in housing prices has been much more gradual over a period of years (even if the lack of any substantial rise in area wages has made it feel more cataclysmic on the ground).
Surprisingly, given the rapid turnover of Orlando real estate and the seeming shortage of available housing stock. Orlando had one of the lowest rates of homes selling above asking price in the country. Only 13% of homes sold for more than the seller was seeking over the last year.