People are always curious about the real estate market. I grew up with a Dad who loved real estate. He was a Boston policeman raising 7 children but somehow found a way to invest in real estate. He wasn't a high dollar investor but he invested. In fact, family vacations to Florida usually meant at least 1 or 2 days of looking at real estate. I have a picture of me holding up a $5 bill when I was 14 - total bribery he paid me not to complain about looking at real estate. Somewhat ironic that real estate is my profession and passion. Further ironic that both my children also became realtors.
We have come a long way since the crash and burn of Southwest Florida real estate. Cape Coral hit the bottom in December, 2010 with an average sales price of $120,000. Average home price at peak (January, 2006) was $378,000. Current average sale price for July, 2018 was $284,000. Fort Myers hit bottom in January 2012 with an average sales price of $159,000. Currently, average sales price for July was $364,000. The market has continued to rebuild and thrive. New construction is once again a strong part of our market. Currently, as of August 17, 2018, of the 1791 single family homes active in our MLS system in Cape Coral, 507 of them are new construction homes either completed or in process of being completed. That's a whopping 28%. Currently, there are 1282 homes in Fort Myers currently active in our MLS system, of which 127 homes are new construction - that's 10% of our inventory.
Waterfront choices abound -- In 2017, the average gulf access home was $479,0000 in Cape Coral; in Fort Myers average gulf access home was 19% higher at $572,000; Bonita/Estero climbs to 98% higher at $951,000 and Naples tops it at 518% higher than Cape Coral at $2,965,000.
Key indicators are still strong for our real estate market. Sales are steady; building permits continue to increase; low mortgage defaults and foreclosures, and though interest rates have increased- they haven't gone up as high as projected. Now only if we had that crystal ball for certain!
Southwest Florida offers so much to all ages - who wouldn't want to call it home?