So is the glass half full or half empty? I guess that's what you have to ask yourself when you review the latest figures just released by the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach for July 2008. They report that a total of 745 homes were sold in July 2008 and unbelievable increase of 87.7% over July 2007! That's the good news!
Values have dropped again, as the median price of an existing single-family home sale was down to $145,000 a drop of 38% from $235,000 in July 2007! That is the bad news!
The supply of homes has dropped to 9.6 months from 21.6 only one year ago! This is what the experts like to call the absorbtion rate! Great news as we start to climb out of this market! Homes have returned to affordable levels and pending sales of existing single family homes were 1,179 up from 518 a year ago! Buyers who are priced out of the market just a short time ago are now able to jump back in and achieve their goal of owning a home! We are starting to see an influx of first-time homebuyers in the marketplace!
So yes, there is good news and bad news sales are up but prices are down. But as a real estate agent I look at the bright side, with 745 homes sold in July we are coming back with a vengeance! We knew it was not going to be easy, but the end is in sight! There will never be a better time to buy and now is the time to buy in Southwest Florida!
Other sections of the country are well behind us and it will take them longer! Keep in mind over the next 3 years the largest percentage of people ever to retire will occur! I am quite sure that many of them will be retiring to Cape Coral and Ft. Myers!
Don't believe what you read in the papers now is the time to buy! The numbers don't lie! Have a great day!
Mike Kelly, Sellstate Advantage Realty, Cape Coral, Florida 239-549-9200
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