Presenting

MARKET Report COMMUNITY Market Highlights By Clint Chapman A A chronological review of real estate headlines published over the last fourteen months provides a good synopsis of the past and current status of Southwest Florida's recovering, viable real estate market. Most headlines have justifiably proclaimed, "Florida's Housing Market Shows Positive Trends," and "Southwest Florida Home Sales Finish Strong." However, we are now concurrently witnessing some expressions of concern with the balancing of certain critical market components. A few headlines have even gone so far as to refer to the dreaded "B" (bubble) word. Their words of caution are based on the very rapid increase in sales prices, and concern that those price increases may be unduly influenced by the high percentage (reportedly over 30 percent nationally) of institutional, cash and investor buyers bounding into the market. Even with some of those mixedmarket analyses and opinions, optimism and "bullish" behaviors seem to abound. Founder of Sarasota based Michael Saunders & Company, Michael Saunders, recently commented, "We picked up the business section of the newspaper the other day and nearly every story involved vast improvements in our local real estate market, or the positive impact its recovery is having on other segments of the region's economy. To name just a few points of light, pending sales 60 | FLORIDA HOMES MAGAZINE + 26.7% + 12.8% Pending Sales Median Sales Price Single-Family Homes HEADLINES TELL THE STORY Single-Family Homes One-Year Change in are at their highest levels in years; builders are scrambling to keep up with new orders; and the ratio of foreclosures and short sales—compared with other transactions—are declining throughout Southwest Florida. No matter where you turn for your daily news fix, real estate is being touted as the main engine driving the country's economic revival. After years of being the poster child for our broken economy, the real estate market is currently experiencing something it had grown quite unaccustomed to—unbridled optimism about its comeback." Overall, the ongoing data may support that optimistic outlook for Florida. "Real estate is being touted as the main engine driving the country's economic revival." Michael Saunders However, January sales did present a trend anomaly, with a decline in property sales. That aberrant drop appears to be explained by an unusually active December, plus the significant jump in January pending sales. The region's depleted inventory of available properties has been increasing for the last five months, bringing a better balance to the market. Florida Realtors President, Dean Asher, recently observed, "Each month brings more positive signs for the state's housing market. For exam- One-Year Change in ple, February 2013, is the 14th month in a row that statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and for townhouse-condo units increased year-over-year, according to Florida Realtors' data. Properties are selling more quickly statewide … the median days a home is on the market dropped about 15 percent for singlefamily homes and 10 percent for townhouse-condo units in February." According to statewide data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis Department, Florida singlefamily home sales in February is up 10.3 percent, compared to February 2012. In addition, pending sales (signed contracts not yet closed) for single-family homes rose 26.7 percent over the previous February. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was $150,000, up 12.8 percent from the previous year. While the collective data continues to support the current optimistic headlines, expressions of caution and concern should also be weighed carefully. As the industry continues its remarkable comeback, continuing objective and insightful self-analysis is critical to ensure continued success -- and robust future headlines.

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