Sales of existing single-family homes in Lee County got off to a strong start in January, rising 47 percent from a year ago to 1,115.
The median price of homes in Lee, however, fell 4 percent year-over-year to $91,000, according to statistics released Friday by the Florida Association of Realtors.
For condominiums, sales increased 165 percent to 390 while the median price fell 6 percent to $121,400, the report stated.
“We can sell your home, but you won’t jump for joy over the price. If you’re buying a home, you’ll be elated,” said John McWilliams, owner-broker for McWilliams, Buckley & Associates, with offices in Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres.
Regardless of the lower prices, “The healing has begun,” said Steve Koffman, Cape Coral-based broker with Century 21 Sunbelt Realty.
Koffman noted that more than 20,000 Lee homes are somewhere in the foreclosure process and ultimately must be resold.
January’s sales, he said, show that “homes are coming off the market. That’s exactly what needs to happen.”
January’s year-over-year decline in median price didn’t surprise Koffman: “We’re still bouncing around the bottom.”
The year-over-year gains in sales and declines in median prices continued the trend of recent months, although fewer homes and condominiums sold in January compared to December.
In December, 1,487 single-family homes sold at a median price of $94,500. There were 463 condominiums sold at a median price of $120,800.
That dip from December to January is not unusual, according to Koffman.
February through April tend to be the big months for sales closings – often to snowbirds, followed by sales to families in June and early July, he said.
Nationally, sales of existing homes took a large drop for the second straight month in January, falling to the lowest level since summer.
The National Association of Realtors said sales fell 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million from a revised pace of 5.44 million in December.
The results, the weakest since June, were far worse than forecasted. Economists expected a slight increase to a rate of 5.5 million. The report “is certainly not good,” said Lawrence Yun, the national trade group’s chief economist.
Marion Dondero, a sales agent with Century 21 Sunbelt’s office in Fort Myers, said she is seeing strong interest from buyers outside the area.
In January, she sold homes in south Fort Myers to buyers from Maryland and North Carolina, Dondero said. Most are cash-ready buyers looking in the $200,000 range.
“They are mostly looking for homes under $300,000,” Dondero said. “If you can find them one, you can probably sell the house.”
Steve Hofmeister, 50, of Sykesville, Md., said he had been looking at homes in the Fort Myers area for about two years before buying one in January. The home is on the Old Hickory Golf Course off Daniels Parkway, and it sold for about $220,000, Hofmeister said.
“I just knew if I didn’t do it this year, I wasn’t going to do it,” Hofmeister said. “I really don’t think prices are going to go much lower and I think they may start going up soon.”
Dondero said buyers looking for a lower priced home – $150,000 and below – are getting bogged down in short-sale negotiations with banks.
“The banks are moving very slowly, and people are getting frustrated,” she said.
Courtesy of the News Press
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