01 Jun Shadow Wood at the Brooks Real Estate News | June 2019
Whether you are buying or selling, if you are looking for REALTOR® representation, think of me and allow me to share my 30 years of experience putting buyers and sellers together in SWFL
Your Shadow Wood REALTOR®,
Ed Gongola
SUMMARY OF SHADOW WOOD HOME SALES
SHADOW WOOD CONDOS
- Within the last 12 months, there were 29 sales; the average sales price was $319,152; and, these condos were on the market an average of 127 days; combined days on the market is 237.
- During the 12 months previous, there were 31 sales; the average sales price was $385,087; and, these homes were on the market an average of 94 days; combined days on the market is 158.
SINGLE-FAMILY SHADOW WOOD HOMES
- During the last 12 months, there were 67 sales; the average sales price was $844,935; and, these homes were on the market an average of 105 days; combined days on the market is 206.
- During the 12 months previous, there were 63 sales; the average sales price was $900,918 and, these homes were on the market an average of 102 days; combined days on the market is 184.
For a list of SHADOW WOOD homes that are pending at the moment, click here.
Meet Ed Gongola and discover how he can help you with his concierge style of service when buying or selling your home.
Click here for membership information.
JUNE 2019 MARKET UPDATE
POISED FOR SUMMER
“As we wrap up another successful winter season, our Realtors are preparing for a busy summer,” said Mike Hughes, General Manager for Downing-Frye Realty, Inc. “Let’s take a quick look at our winter season. We had 1,608 pending sales for the first five months of 2019. Of these pending sales, 1,224 have already closed with many scheduled to close over the next 45 days. Despite all of these closings, we still have a listing inventory in excess of 1,100 properties. With an average closed sales price of $616,376, our agents can’t wait for the summer season. If you are thinking about listing your property, now would be a good time as the kids are getting out of school for the summer. Once the kids are out of school, we get a lot of summer visitors. What a great time of the year to visit! If you are a buyer, the listing inventory in Southwest Florida is strong right now with plenty of choices across all price ranges.”
BONITA /ESTERO: STABLE PRICES
Home prices have been stable in the Bonita Springs/ Estero market, and properties priced to current market value are leading the sales activity. Pending home sales increased by 5 percent in April 2019 compared to April 2018, while the twelve month comparison shows a 6 percent increase. Closed sales in April 2019 were down 8 percent vs. April 2018, while overall closed sales for the 12 month period were up 3 percent. The median closed sale price in April 2019 was down 5 percent compared to April 2018, but up one percent for the 12 month period. The average days on market remained at 97 days. The current inventory in April 2019 was 1,866, just slightly more than the 1,812 properties on the market in April 2018. The desire for Bonita/Estero homes was confirmed by over 13 million website views reported by realtor.com.
FLORIDA: PENDING SALES & MEDIAN PRICES UP
Florida’s housing market reported more sales, higher median prices and increased inventory in April compared to a year ago. Sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 26,992 in April 2019, up 6.2% over April 2018, and closed sales of condo-townhouses totaled 11,817, up 3.2% compared to a year ago. In April, statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties rose year-over-year for the 88th consecutive month. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $259,470, up 2.6% from the previous year, and for condo-townhouse units was $194,050, up 2.1% over the year-ago figure. “April was easily the strongest month we’ve seen so far this year for home sales in the Sunshine State,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. “Prior to April, single-family closed sales for 2019 were actually down year-over-year, but with April’s little surge (up 6.2%), sales in 2019 are now up by 1% compared to where we were through the first four months of 2018.”
USA: EXISTING HOME SALES SLIDE SHOW MINOR DECLINE
Sources: The Bonita Springs-Estero Assoc. of REALTORS®, Naples Area Board of REALTORS®, National Assoc. of REALTORS®, Florida REALTORS®.
How Often Do Buyers Bust Budgets to Get a Home?
NEW YORK – May 28, 2019 – A nationwide housing shortage has eased somewhat. Home price gains have moderated. And bidding wars are no longer commonplace. Yet buyers are still blowing through their budgets by ever-higher amounts to lasso their dream homes, according to a recent survey by Owners.com, a real estate brokerage.
Among the different age groups of buyers:
- 39% of Gen Xers went over budget and by $35,000 on average, up from 34% who topped their spending limits by an average $13,996 a year ago.
- 27% of baby boomers busted their budgets by an average $25,000, compared with 19% who went over by $8,024 last year.
- More millennials surpassed their spending caps – 46% – up from 40% last year. But they cut the average amount they overspent in half to $12,000.
The finding shows that even in a more buyer-friendly market with more choices, many shoppers still struggle to land the house that meets their needs. “Finding the right house is still very challenging,” says Dario Cardile, vice president of growth at Owners.com. “To get quality, they need to go up.” Thirty-eight percent of homebuyers topped their spending limits, up from 32% a year ago, according to the March survey of 1,800 homebuyers who made a purchase within the past four years. And they busted their budgets by an average $20,000, up from $16,510 in the early 2018 survey. “People are going above their budgets more than we expected,” Cardile says. Among the reasons more buyers are splurging: Despite the cooler market, prices are still climbing and inventory remains relatively low, especially in large coastal cities. There were 1.83 million existing home listings in April. And while that total is up from 1.67 million a year earlier, it remains below a normal level, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price was $267,300, 3.6% higher than in April 2018. Although that price is still rising, it’s less than the 5% to 6% annual price gains a year earlier. Meanwhile, Americans’ average pay increases have accelerated above 3%, seemingly easing the financial strain.
Competition for houses also has eased. Clients of Redfin who made offers on homes faced bidding wars 15% of the time last month, according to the real estate brokerage. That was down sharply from 60% a year earlier. But it’s still not easy to snag that ideal house in a good neighborhood with top-notch schools that’s a short commute from the office, Cardile says. About half the buyers surveyed said finding the right home was the most challenging part of their hunt, more than those who cited saving up for the down payment. John Frazier, 71, hunted for a one-bedroom condo in downtown Philadelphia for weeks but found nothing suitable within his $250,000 price limit.
“We looked at a bunch of places but couldn’t find anything where I wanted to be and what I wanted,” says Frazier. Some units were too far from his preferred Center City neighborhood while others were older and needed work. So Frazier increased his cap by $50,000 and quickly found a modern, top-floor condo for $300,000 with spectacular views and a health club, and within walking distance of shopping, his doctors and the city’s theaters. The unit had attracted other buyers, and so Frazier offered $5,000 above the list price. He moved in March 22. Although he’s spending about $200 a month more than he initially intended, the monthly payment is still within his budget, he says.
Millennials aren’t being more frugal, Cardile says. If anything, entry-level homes favored by people in their 20s and 30s have posted sharper price increases than more expensive trade-up units. Rather, he suggests millennials increasingly are using online tools to narrow down their searches. As a result, he says, they’re savvier about the market, prompting them to set higher spending limits and exceed them by smaller amounts.
Another factor is that just 41% of millennials said finding the right home was their biggest challenge, compared with 52% of Gen Xers and 56% of boomers. Many millennials are still single or childless and less tied to jobs, making them more willing to move to mid-sized markets to buy affordable homes, Cardile says.
April Report Shows Market Resurgence Continues
According to Kathy Zorn, broker/owner, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Pristine, who analyzed April’s Market Report and showing activity provided by ShowingTime, a REALTOR® resource that tracks agent listing appointments with potential buyers, it took an average of 15 showings for a property to secure a contract in April.
“The uptick in showings during the last few months are a positive indicator of continued buyer interest in our area,” said Zorn. And while April’s overall median closed price decreased 5.6 percent to $340,000 in April 2019 from $360,000 in April 2018, April 2019’s median closed price was higher than both January and February’s median closed prices.
The Report also showed nearly 1,000 properties went from active to either terminated, expired, or withdrawn in the Southwest Florida MLS during April, which directly impacted April’s ending inventory level as seen in an 11.1 percent decrease to 6,435 properties in April 2019 from 7,239 properties in April 2018. But Zorn also pointed out that April saw the number of new condominium listings increase by 9.2 percent; whereas there was a decrease of 3.2 percent for new listings in the single-family homes market.
“Despite old-fashioned beliefs that our area is predominately seasonal, the last few years of home sales activity after Easter are proof that this is just not the case anymore,” said Mike Hughes, Vice President and General Manager for Downing-Frye Realty, Inc.
In agreement, Brenda Fioretti, Managing Broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty, added that “April and May have always been our strongest months for closings historically. But unlike last year, April’s Report this year shows signs of a possible new trend: more closed sales for homes on the lower end of the price spectrum versus last year which had more closed sales in higher price points.”
The Report supports Fioretti’s theory as closed sales of single-family homes in April 2019 increased 4.4 percent, but closed sales of condominiums increased 20.1 percent in April 2019 compared to April 2018 market statistics. Further, the trend toward more sales of lower priced properties Fioretti mentioned is also visible in activity tracked over the last 12 months where there was a 4.3 percent increase or 2,727 closed sales of condominiums in the under $300,000 price category compared to a .8 percent decrease in this same price category for single-family homes (1,037 closed sales). The increase in condominium inventory Zorn mentioned is also a contributing factor to this new trend.
The NABOR® April 2019 Market Reports provide comparisons of single-family home and condominium sales (via the Southwest Florida MLS), price ranges, and geographic segmentation and includes an overall market summary. NABOR® sales statistics are presented in chart format, including these overall (single-family and condominium) findings:
|
CATEGORIES
|
APR 2018 | APR 2019 | CHANGE |
| Total closed sales (month/month) | 1,027 | 1,158 | +12.8% |
| Median closed price (month/month) | $360,000 | $340,000 | -5.6% |
| Total active listings (inventory) | 7,239 | 6,435 | -11.1% |
| Average days on market | 94 | 98 | +4.3% |
| Single-family closed sales (month/month) | 481 | 502 | +4.4% |
| Single-family median closed price (month/month) | $445,000 | $469,000 | +5.4% |
| Single-family inventory | 3,554 | 3,228 | -9.2% |
| Condominium closed sales (month/month) | 546 | 656 | +20.1% |
| Condominium median closed price (month/month) | $269,750 | $272,250 | +.9% |
| Condominium inventory | 3,685 | 3,207 | -13% |
Geographically, closed sales skyrocketed in April for the Naples Beach area (34102, 34103, 34108), which had a 44.6 percent increase in closed sales for its single-family homes market and a 12.5 percent increase in closed sales for its condominium market. Also remarkable, the Central Naples area (34104, 34105, 34116) had a 22 percent increase in closed sales of condominiums while the East Naples area had a 36.4 percent increase in condominium sales and the South Naples area (34112, 34113) topped them all with an impressive 49 percent increase in closed sales of condominiums during April.
Hughes added that – from a buyer’s perspective – “the late spring and summer months are a great time to buy because there has always been a good selection of homes in all price ranges.”
One trend that continues to be applauded by broker analysts is the adoption by sellers to price their homes appropriately – based on actual comparisons of recently sold homes – in order to gauge their home’s estimated value rather than pricing their homes based on unvalidated values.
The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.
|
|
A Word from Downing-Frye Broker & General Manager Mike Hughes
We are slowly inching toward summer. All in all, I would say that we had a pretty good season for real estate. Our closed sales volume is currently sitting at $600 million. By the end of the month we will probably add another $100 million to that number. we had a pretty good season for real estate. We are slowly inching toward summer. All in all, I would say that we had a pretty good season for real estate. are slowly inching toward summer. All in all, I would say that we had a pretty good season for real estate. May is always an odd month because the winter visitors are largely gone and the summer visitors are not here yet. So what is happening so far in May. We have 97 pending sales for the first nine days. Last May, we had 125 pending sales for the first nine days. The pending sales volume for the first nine days is about the same when you compare this May to May of 2018 for the first nine days. The noticeable difference is our average pending sale volume. In the first nine days of May 2018, our average pending sale was $467,077. This May, our average pending sale is $581,543. That is quite a jump! This represents almost a 25% increase in our average pending sale. Well, we have come all the way back! Let me explain. For the first two months of the year, our closed sales volume was running behind last year. Through the end of May 2018, we had a closed sales volume of $723 million. Our closed sales volume at the end of May 2019 was $726 million. We had a great May for closings. In May, our closed sales volume was $178 million!
