Real Estate: The Current Market Trend Report
The weather may not be what most of the visitors to Fort Myers Beach expect for this time of the year, but you can certainly see that this does not stop loyal patrons to the beach. The weather may not be cooperating but the Real Estate market may be, with continued sales records on Fort Myers Beach and in Lee County Florida.
There are three key performance indicator trends that I look at when determining how the Real Estate market is performing. The first KPI is average days on market. Over the past 10 weeks, the average days on market have gone from 340 days to 297 days with half of the new listings coming on the market in the past 301 days. A key statistic that I also look at is the average age of listings which currently is only 36.
The next KPI is median list price, which is important to show the performance on the market. If the median home price is going up, this is a positive trend. Over the past 10 weeks the median home price has been flat, which is a change from the previous 53 weeks which was a decrease in the median home price. The current median price per square foot for Fort Myers Beach is $309 and this takes into account both single family homes and condominiums.
The next KPI is the inventory of listed properties, which tells how many new properties are coming on the market. This KPI currently is a downward trend which indicates that fewer properties are coming on the market in the past 10 weeks. According to the MLS data there are currently 590 active listings on Fort Myers Beach, which is down by 119 from 10 weeks ago.
I review home sales and inventory of listed properties weekly to determine the “home absorption rate”, which is basically a formula to determine how many months of inventory is currently on the market based on new listings and current sales trends. As an example, if there are 10 new properties on the market last week, 200 properties currently on the market but there are 25 sold, the absorption rate is positive because more homes are selling than being brought on the market and therefore the properties are being “absorbed” quicker than new inventory is brought onto the market.
In 2009 Lee County Florida had record unit sales, and based on the January 2010 information we are going to continue to have record sales numbers. There are several things driving this. The first is the tax credit, which home buyers have 72 more days to enter into contract for their new home and still be eligible for the Federal Tax credit of up to $8,500 even though they will have until June 30, 2010, to get the transaction closed. The question everyone is wondering is how the market with prosper without the government intervention of stimulus money.
Although no one has the crystal ball, it will be hard to break the momentum. From personal experience the best of deals are not lasting long after they are listed. After experiencing several multiple offer situations over the past few months, price will continue to be the key propelling factor that will continue to move the market forward.
Jason M. Jakus is a licensed realtor for Leisure American Realty, a full service Real Estate and Property Management company serving the beaches and surrounding areas of Lee County. Their office is located at 2450 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach FL 33931. For more information on this or any other real estate or property management subject contact Jason at 239-463-3178 or email RealtyInfo@LeisureAmerican.com.