"new kind of international buyer" enters florida market

Photo: MauricioPadovani

Reunion Resort, located in Osceola County, has re-emerged from the state's real estate crash, attracting buyers from overseas. Now, though, customers are more skeptical than they once were, developers tell the Orlando Sentinel, asking more questions about the financial underpinnings of projects.

Where buyers are coming from has also changed, with more Brazilians, Canadians and Chinese than a decade ago.

"I was with the original developer from 2001 to 2004, and the U.K. [United Kingdom] market was strong back then. But what we didn't see was the number of buyers from China and Brazil that we are seeing today," Myles Newell, vice president of sales for the Encore Club at Reunion, tells the paper.

Orlando, meanwhile, has also enjoys a rise in demand from buyers, with sales up almost 6 per cent in June 2014, the first positive year-on-year comparison in eight months. Sales increased by nearly 5 per cent when compared to the previous month.

ORRA Chairman Zola Szerencses, attributes the bump in sales to a rise in sales inventory: “We’ve had double-digit increases in inventory for months, and the additional supply is accelerating sales. Would-be buyers who were blocked by competition last year are finding more to choose from.”

Orlando’s housing market also charted positive for overall median price in June. The overall median price for the month is $165,100, a 9.88 per cent increase over June 2013 and a 0.06 per cent increase over last month.

Orlando’s overall median price has now recorded year-to-year gains for 36 consecutive months and has risen 42.94 per cent since July 2011.