Avatar instrumental in Orlando’s #9 market ranking in national poll

July 05, 2006

Fueled by 1,703 closings last year, the Central Florida Division of Avatar Properties Inc. played a major role in the Orlando area being ranked the nation’s 9th largest housing market in 2005.

The annual survey of the nation’s Top 75 housing markets, published in the June issue of BUILDER magazine, ranked Avatar 5th in the Orlando MSA/PMSA (metropolitan statistical area/primary metropolitan statistical area) with 1,703 closings which represented a 4.7 percent market share.

Avatar’s Central Florida Division posted the closings in its communities of Poinciana, Solivita, Bellalago, and the Isles of Bellalago. Poinciana, which covers approximately 47,000 acres in northwest Osceola and northeast Polk counties and includes Avatar’s primary housing as well as its award-winning active adult community of Solivita, accounted for 1,384 of the Division’s residential closings. Bellalago, Avatar’s gated community with over one mile of shoreline on Lake Tohopekaliga and its sister community the Isles of Bellalago accounted for another 319 closings.

The annual survey was conducted by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, owned by Hanley Wood, LLC, publisher of BUILDER, the official publication of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and one of the home building industry’s largest providers of information on new-home projects, land development, and real estate consulting services. The Top 75 markets were determined based on the number of single-family permits issued in 2005 in MSAs/PMSAs.

Orlando, which reported 35,873 permits, was the highest ranked Florida MSA/PMSA and one of 14 Florida markets in the survey. Builders in each market were ranked by number of closings.

Avatar Properties Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coral Gables-based Avatar Holdings Inc., a publicly-held company that is primarily engaged in real estate operations in Florida and Arizona.

Avatar’s common shares trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “AVTR.