Angie Shull's Blog

The 21 percent monthly year-over-year increase in the number of homes sold locally in August is the highest so far this year for the two-county area, exceeding the 16 percent year-over-year increase recorded in July.

Florida Realtors does not track sales of newly built homes.

August marks the seventh time out of the past eight months that home sales in the Volusia-Flagler area have exceeded the number sold in the same month the previous year; however, the number sold last month was 8 percent less than the 766 sold in July.

August traditionally is a slower month for home sales as families are busy with vacations and preparing to send children back to school, said John Leitschuh, president of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors.

"All that is real encouraging," said Leitschuh. "People have concluded, and I think rightfully so, that if we're not at the bottom, we are awfully close. The numbers are just too similar month to month."

The median price for homes sold last month in the Volusia-Flagler area was $112,800, down 1 percent from $113,500 a year ago. The median price means an equal number of homes sold for greater than and less than that amount.

"We're hanging in there," said Karen Radcliff, president of the Flagler County Association of Realtors.

Radcliff said median prices for homes sold locally appear to be leveling off this year, following several years of steep declines. "We're not advancing, kind of flat line, and in this economy that's a good indicator that we're not going down," she said.

A total of 140 condominium units were sold last month in the Volusia-Flagler area, down 11 percent from the 158 units sold the same month a year ago, but the median price for units sold rose 30 percent in August to $162,200, up from $125,000 in August 2010.

It's the highest median price for condo units sold locally since November 2009 when the median price was $171,300.

"There are tremendous deals on high-end condos that they're skewing the numbers," Leitschuh said.