Southwest Florida Housing Market Has Bottomed Out!!

I have great news to share...Everywhere on national news you hear about the housing market taking another dip in the year 2011, as high as an additional 15%. That does not appear to be the case in Southwest Florida. The prices in our market have actually shown an increase for the last 1 ½ years. National articles show that prices in all the major markets are declining except in Southwest Florida. NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! Our inventory of foreclosures and short sales is decreasing, therefore investors and first time homebuyers should be taking advantage of the existing inventory of homes for sale that are all below replacement cost. The actual median home prices rose 3.65% from 2009 to 2010. Unfortunately the area is perceived as still being depressed. This is because we were in the top 5 of foreclosure sales for such a long period of time. That number has risen from being in 4^th place to now being in 54^th place in foreclosure sales. This area is a HOT REAL ESTATE MARKET. Our single family housing permits increased by 23% in 2010. Another great showing of positive activity is that we have steadily decreasing unemployment rates in the area. Also, for January 2011 our foreclosure numbers fell significantly. Lee County has dropped to 19^th in the state for foreclosure filings. One home of every 428 borrowers were foreclosed, a decrease of 35.4% from December 2010 and a decrease of 71.74% when compared to January 2010. Collier County had a decrease of 37.99% compared to December 2010 and a decrease of 72.6% from January 2010.

You all come on down and take advantage of the existing inventory of low priced homes. After you get through looking for your dream home, or your second vacation home, we can take a ride on “Revelry” and catch some fish or do a great dive.

It’s a great day in “Paradise”.