Naples-Marco market No. 1 for home price appreciation
By GINA EDWARDS, gvedwards@naplesnews.com
September 18, 2005
Handicapping a real estate bubble has become a national obsession, if
not a national pastime.
And the Southwest Florida market is still grabbing the national spotlight.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says the Naples-Marco
Island metro area is No. 1 in the nation for
home price appreciation for the second quarter ending June 30, compared
with the same time last year.
Single-family homes appreciated 35.6 percent during that time.
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area ranks No. 9 in the country at
29.84 percent appreciation. Punta Gorda in
Charlotte County ranks No. 12 on the list with homes appreciating 29.39
percent during the year."
We're not seeing any evidence whatsoever of prices topping out," said
Andrew Leventis, an economist for the Office
of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Nationwide, homes appreciated 13.4 percent on average, according to
the federal index. On the opposite end of the
spectrum, Mansfield, Ohio, and Lafayette, Ind., had the lowest appreciation
for the second quarter in the nation, both
coming in at less than 1 percent.
Overall, income levels and low interest rates are fueling home prices
on a macro level, Leventis said. In Florida — and
Naples in particular — demand from buyers appears strong.
"
We hear of demand being high for second homes there," Leventis said.
Local agents say brisk sales in the luxury market appear to be boosting
the area's median sales price, even as some
sales in the lower end of the market have slowed. "
The number of transactions on the high end has increased," said
Joe Ballerino, owner of Amerivest Realty.
Ballerino said the lower end of the Naples market — which he describes
as properties at less than $750,000 — appears
to be leveling off somewhat.
The Florida Association of Realtors reported Naples' median single-family
home price for July at $490,400, up 31
percent compared with July 2004.
Closings in Collier County in August were up 24 percent compared with
the same time last year, according to MLS
data compiled by Amerivest Realty of Naples.
Year to date, closings were 6,613 from January to August, compared with 6,494 for the same time last year. Another national group, the National Association of Realtors, reported in August that the Fort Myers-Cape Coral Metropolitan Statistical Area ranked second in the nation for median home price appreciation for the second quarter, with the median price up 45.2 percent from the same time a year ago to $266,800.