Single-family home sales drop, prices rise in Southwest Florida

As more homes hit the market, closed sales continued to drop in Southwest Florida in April from a year earlier.

But single-family home prices remain on the upswing, according to separate reports released Friday by Florida Realtors and regional real estate trade groups.

Brad O’Connor, Florida Realtors chief economist, attributed the decline in sales and rise in prices in part to an ongoing shortage of distressed homes in the most affordable price ranges.

He noted in a report that distressed sales accounted for less than 12 percent of all closed sales statewide, “the lowest such percentage we’ve recorded since the initial stages of the downturn.”

In Collier County, single-family home closed sales fell 17.1 percent in April, to 457 from 551 in April 2015. Sales fell in all neighborhoods, but the drop was most dramatic in the Ave Maria and Immokalee areas.

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Naples Area Board of Realtors President Rick Fioretti described the overall sales decline as “due to a leveling off of the market.”

In Lee, closed sales for single-family homes dropped 8.2 percent to 1,216 from 1,325 the year before.

The newly named Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association said in its report that North Fort Myers was the only neighborhood that saw an increase in single-family sales over the year.

Both Southwest Florida counties saw deeper drops than the state as a whole, which saw a slight decrease of 0.6 percent, to 24,144 from 24,292.

But single-family prices rose in both counties over the year.

In Collier County, they jumped 16.3 percent, to $465,000 from $400,000, with the biggest increases in North and East Naples.

In Lee County, the increase was more modest, 4.7 percent, to $235,000 from $224,512. All neighborhoods saw price increases except Sanibel and Captiva and Fort Myers Beach.

Statewide, single-family prices were up 9.2 percent, to $213,000 from $195,000.

In town houses and condos, both counties also saw sales declines that were sharper than the statewide drop of 5.3 percent, to 10,738 from 11,340.

In Collier County, multifamily closed sales fell 23.3 percent, to 594 from 774, while in Lee, they were down 9.7 percent, to 699 from 774.

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But town house and condo prices in Lee County handily beat the statewide growth of 4.4 percent, to $160,000 from $153,245.

Lee’s increase was 10 percent, to $192,500 from $175,000 a year earlier, with the biggest price jumps in foreclosures and bank-owned homes.

In Collier, town house and condo prices fell 2.2 percent, to $273,750 from $280,000, with only the East Naples area seeing an increase in prices.

Throughout Southwest Florida, inventory levels for all types of homes grew dramatically.

While more supply usually indicates that prices are likely to soften in the future, the median days on the market continued to drop in both Collier and Lee, suggesting still-robust demand.

NABOR past president Mike Hughes noted in a report that Collier’s decline in pending sales was slight compared with 2015, which was “an outstanding year in my book.”

He expressed confidence that as buyers finally realize they have more choices in what has long been a very tight market, “we’ll see the number of pending and closed sales improve.”