Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach ,Port Orange, S Daytona, Ponce Inlet, real estate, fl

House Prices

Here are the annual median sales prices for existing houses sold by Realtors in Volusia and Flagler counties. The median price for May was $118,300, compared to $136,100 in May 2009.

*2010: $119,200

2009: $130,500

2008: $165,700

2007: $197,200

2006: $219,900

2005: 204,400

2004: 157,800

2003: 131,300

2002: 109,768

2001: 96,770

2000: 88,300

1999: 84,500

*Through May. The rest are annual medians.

SOURCE: Florida Realtors

DAYTONA BEACH -- Homebuyers rushing to meet tax credit deadlines, falling prices and easier access to mortgages are credited with surging sales in May of existing houses and condos in Volusia and Flagler counties and across the state.

However, concerns about high unemployment continue to check a national housing recovery and caused a slight dip.

Volusia and Flagler Realtors closed on 830 single-family houses in May, according to Florida Realtors. That's up 27 percent from the 653 sold in May 2009.

"That increase is very encouraging," said Phil Maroney with Tri-Square Realty in Ormond Beach and head of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors. "But I am more enthusiastic that we were so close to April's total (871 houses). There was some concern about what might happen in May after the tax credit deadline."

Homeowners who signed contracts before April 30 must close the deal before the end of June to qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for a first-time buyer or up to $6,500 for someone buying and moving into a different home.

Existing home sales reports count closings and not contracts, so officials expected strong numbers in May and June due to the federal incentives. However, June numbers are threatened because mortgage application backlogs may delay processing past the June 30 deadline.

About 180,000 potential buyers could be in limbo, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. The trade group is pushing Congress to extend the closing deadline until Sept. 30.

Local lenders are seeing the crunch.

"We are meeting deadlines in closings at our end, but lenders in general don't seem to have a system down pat and it's difficult to get loans through them easily," said Buddy Hughes, president of Professional Title Agency with offices in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Palm Coast. "May was not an active month, but June is a little better."

Price drops also attracted buyers.

The median sales price -- where half sell for more and half for less -- for a single-family house sold in May in Volusia and Flagler was $118,300, down 13 percent from $136,100 in May 2009.

The trends were the same for existing condominiums. Sales rose 16 percent to 161 units from 139 in May 2009. May's median sale price was $114,400, down 40 percent from $191,300 a year ago.

"A year ago, all the deals from our real estate division were cash buyers for foreclosures and short sales because there was no financing available," said Ron Clifton of Clifton Financial Services in Daytona Beach. "That broke about six months ago and we've seen lending loosen up a bit. Although we used to have 100 choices, we're down to just a few."

Sales of existing houses across the state rose 18 percent to 16,745 in May from 14,172 a year ago. The statewide median sales price was $140,400, down 2 percent from $143,800 in May 2009.

Nationally, sales of existing dwellings dipped 2.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.66 million. The median price was $179,600, up 2.7 percent from May 2009.

Sales have climbed 25 percent from the 4.5 million level in January 2009 -- the lowest level of the recession. But they are still down 22 percent from the peak -- 7.25 million in September 2005.

Aside from tax relief, borrowing costs are historically low. The average 30-year mortgage rate was 4.89 percent in May, down from 5.10 percent in April, according to Freddie Mac.

--The Associated Press contributed to this report.