Real Estate Recovery?

COLLIER COUNTY – Some good news from the local housing market. The Naples Area Board of Realtors (NABOR) says there’s been a steady increase in the number of homes sold and they expect that trend to continue.

Last year, the average home in the naples area took nearly 200 days to sell. Now, now homes are selling 19% faster at 161 days on the market.
Realtors say its a positive sign that we’re heading towards a recovery.

“We’ve seen a 46% increase in single family home sales and a 26% increase in condo sales just in the last quarter,” says President of NABOR, Brett Brown.

In the past year and a half sales under $300 thousand, including foreclosures and short sales, were the hot commodity. Now, even the more expensive homes are selling too.

“We’re seeing some improvements in the $500 thousand to the $1 million to over $2 million price range so almost every category saw some significant improvements,” says Brown.

Realtors say good financing opportunities are helping to strengthen the market and so is the $8 thousand federal tax credit for first time home buyers. Harmony Barone says the incentive pushed her to buy her first home in Golden Gate Estates.

“We had a small condo off of Airport Road and our mortgage is $100 dollars more than our rent was,” says Barone.

The offer is only good until December 1st. Realtors hope first time homebuyers take advantage of the tax credit and all buyers take advantage of great housing deals.

Although the area is slowly seeing an uptick, home prices are still way down. In 2006 they were at $390 thousand. Now, they’re at $175 thousand.

Courtesy of Wink News

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