Property sales climbed in Central Florida's biggest county while the region's largest city saw its number of building permit applications remained flat last week, when compared with the prior week, during a time of coronavirus shutdowns.

That's the latest as Orlando Business Journal continues to monitor weekly sales and building-permit fluctuations in Orange County and the city of Orlando to get a better understanding of how coronavirus may be affecting the region's real estate development. The numbers are highly variable — even without a global pandemic — and it may be difficult to tell if the numbers are related to the current market uncertainty or other factors.

Still, the virus outbreak has wreaked havoc on Central Florida's once-booming economy as businesses shutter, resulting in thousands of job losses.

Orange County Property Sales

Apartment deals remained strong in Orange County last week, as two sizable properties were sold.

On March 23, Indigo West at 6101 Raleigh St. near MetroWest in west Orlando sold for $90.5 million, or roughly $198,464 per unit, county records showed. And Princeton at College Park at 646 W. Smith St. in Orlando on March 26 sold for $56.7 million, or roughly $275,127 per unit.

The deals show investors remain confident, at least for now, that Orlando's apartment properties have long-term appeal. That said, Class A rents have started to slide in Central Florida in recent weeks. But it's not known how much of an impact the coronavirus has had on the apartment rental market.

"It’s too early to tell at this point," said local apartment expert Ryan Moody, senior managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, who was involved in the Indigo West deal.

Orlando Building Permits

The number of building permit applications filed to the city of Orlando remained flat last week. But overall the number of building permit applications have cooled off when compared with five weeks ago.

It remains to be seen if coronavirus will shut down the construction industry in Central Florida, as cities across the U.S. place restrictions on building during the pandemic. So far, construction has been spared in Central Florida, where stay-at-home orders have deemed the industry "essential."

Source:  OBJ