VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — As communities across the nation see a 16-percent surge in new home sales, Volusia County’s real estate market has taken a hit.

“I think that we are moving in the right direction so right now. I am excited,” said Ron Wysocarski, CEO of Wyse Home Realty. 

Wysocarski is working double shifts, getting ready for a real estate resurgence.

“We’re behaving on our side as if the market is going to come roaring back,” said Wysocarski.

That would be a significant change from what many have seen the last few months.

“Once COVID hit and we went into lockdown, we saw a lot less activity as far as pending sales and that is starting to show up in the April reports and certainly the May reports were off in terms of the number of properties sold,” said Wysocarski. 

The Daytona Beach Area Multiple Listing Service reported that overall, 350 single-family homes were sold in May across the area — a 41 percent drop from last year. The sales are 3 percent lower than in April, when official stay-at-home orders were in effect.

“The good news was the median sales price was just about the same, it was off by maybe 2 percent and what I believe is we probably hit the bottom in May and we will see stronger numbers in June," said Wysocarski.  "By July, August, we might be back to pre-Covid numbers. It might be like it never happened”

While the U.S. Commerce Department claims new home sales went up 16.6 percent in May across the country, Wysocarski believes Central Florida likely will not be far behind.

“Not only are they going to meet them, I think with our new construction starts and the interest of people coming to Florida revived again," said Wysocarski. "Again the attractions aren’t even open by Disney, I think when that happens I think we are going to exceed the national numbers.”