A NEW WATERFRONT HOME UNDER CONSTRUCTION BY NOVA HOMES OF SOUTH FLORIDA
Cindy Carroll, with Carroll & Carroll Appraisers & Consultants in Naples, said housing inventory in the Naples area climbed 23 percent from March 2016 to March 2017, but she told the Realtor-packed audience "not to panic about this."
She pointed out the increase wasn't nearly as big as the year before, when the number of homes on the market rose by 35 percent over 12 months.
"We all felt that," she said.
After taking a deeper dive into the numbers, Carroll said, "It looks like the inventory growth is slowing," which could lead to a more balanced real estate market. Where is the inventory growing? At the higher end. Over the past year the largest increase in listings in the single-family market has been in the $1 million to $2 million price range, which rose 18 percent, Carroll said.
Median price — the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less — has remained steady over the past year, with only the under $300,000 market showing a noticeable increase, Carroll said. Many of those more affordable homes are in East Naples and Golden Gate Estates.
The inventory of condominiums in the under $300,00 market has increased 25 percent in the past year after rising 33 percent the year before. Carroll said the huge increase is a "mystery to me." The positive news, she said, is that pending sales and closed sales appear to be on the rebound after a slowdown in 2016, based on the last five months of data reported by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.
"It looks to me like we might have turned the corner. It seems awfully quick to have done that, but it might have happened," she said.
Nova Homes of South Florida is building custom homes for families throughout Southwest Florida, including Naples, Marco Island, Isles of Capri, and Golden Gate Estates. For more information call 239.307.6116 or visit www.novahomesbuilder.com