01 May Shadow Wood at the Brooks Real Estate News | May 2019
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SUMMARY OF SHADOW WOOD HOME SALES
SHADOW WOOD CONDOS
- Within the last 12 months, there were 27 sales; the average sales price was $319,496; and, these condos were on the market an average of 109 days; combined days on the market is 232.
- During the 12 months previous, there were 27 sales; the average sales price was $396,285; and, these homes were on the market an average of 90 days; combined days on the market is 152.
SINGLE-FAMILY SHADOW WOOD HOMES
- During the last 12 months, there were 63 sales; the average sales price was $872,240; and, these homes were on the market an average of 100 days; combined days on the market is 209.
- During the 12 months previous, there were 62 sales; the average sales price was $901,255 and, these homes were on the market an average of 100 days; combined days on the market is 180.
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MAY 2019 MARKET UPDATE
PENDING SALES CLIMB
“We’ve been going through a busy period,” said Mike Hughes, General Manager for Downing-Frye Realty, Inc. “People are making purchasing decisions just before returning home after their winter visits. We’re also seeing the initial group of summer season buyers who have arrived early hoping to locate the best deals. This year our agents turned in 1,007 pending sales through April, with more than a third of them happening during the last month. Interestingly, almost half of our April pending sales were newly constructed homes in the $250-500,000 price range, many of which are being built in the eastern areas of Naples. New construction is filling the demand for inventory, which is at healthy levels.”
BONITA /ESTERO: MARKET ON UPTURN
As of the end of March, year-to-date sales were higher than they were at the same time last year. Pending sales in new construction, pre-construction and under construction homes increased 29.2 percent. Most of the new construction is taking place in the Village of Estero area, which is experiencing a younger demographic as more families move there for year around living. The resale market is also on the upturn with year-to-date pending sales 9 percent above last year. Inventory is keeping pace with increased demand with a 6.5 percent increase in available properties since the same time last year. “Another factor supporting the increase in sales,” said Jerry Murphy, Downing- Frye’s Bonita Springs manager, “is that many sellers have repositioned their prices to be more attractive to buyers. There are a lot of great properties available.”
FLORIDA: PENDING SALES & MEDIAN PRICES UP
Florida’s housing market reported more pending sales, higher median prices and increased inventory (active listings) in March compared to a year ago. In March, statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties rose year-over-year for the 87th month-in-a-row. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $256,000, up 2 percent from the previous year, and for condo-townhouse units was $189,500, up 3.6 percent over the year-ago figure. “On a statewide basis, more homes typically go under contract in March than in any other month of the year,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. “And compared to March of last year, new pending sales of single-family homes this March were up by 2.6 percent to a total of 31,383. In fact, this is the highest number of new pending sales we’ve seen in any month across the previous 11 years in which Florida Realtors has tracked this statistic.
USA: EXISTING HOME SALES SLIDE
Existing-home sales retreated in March, following February’s surge of sales. Sales as a whole are down 5.4% from a year ago (5.21 million in March 2019 compared to 5.51 million in March 2018). Total housing inventory at the end of March increased to 1.68 million, up from 1.63 million existing homes available for sale in February and a 2.4% increase from 1.64 million a year ago. Unsold inventory is at a 3.9-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.6 months in February and up from 3.6 months in March 2018. Properties remained on the market for an average of 36 days in March, down from 44 days in February but up from 30 days a year ago. Forty-seven percent of homes sold in March were on the market for less than a month. First-time buyers were responsible for 33% of sales in March, up from the previous month and a year ago (32% and 30%). All-cash sales accounted for 21% of transactions, and foreclosure 3 percent.
Sources: The Bonita Springs-Estero Assoc. of REALTORS®, Naples Area Board of REALTORS®, National Assoc. of REALTORS®, Florida REALTORS®.
More Investors Including Climate Change in Risk Analysis
NEW YORK – April 29, 2019 – More real estate investors are taking into consideration the impact of climate change on their properties, according to a joint report from the Urban Land Institute and global investment management firm Heitman.
The report is based on a series of interviews with institutional investors, investment managers, consultants and other stakeholders to identify how they’re factoring climate risks into their purchase decisions.
“The interviews revealed that while there is growing awareness of the impacts climate change could have on real estate investments, the industry has not yet developed a standardized response,” the report states. “At this early stage, investment managers view insurance as the primary means of financial protection against physical damage from climate events.
“However, insurance will not protect against a reduction in demand for assets in locations seen as vulnerable to climate risks.”
Rising sea levels, hurricanes, wildfires and floods have greatly affected several markets in recent years. In 2017, insurers paid out a record $135 billion globally in damages caused by storms and other natural disasters, according to the report.
Climate events and threats can lead to increased insurance, maintenance and operational costs and a possible decrease in property value, according to the report. More than $130 billion of U.S. real estate is in metro areas that rank in the top 10 percent of risk to sea level rises, according to research from Heitman and Four Twenty Seven, a climate risk analytics firm.
A few of the strategies institutional investors are taking to combat climate risks include:
Assessing the physical risks. Some real estate investment managers are completing mapping exercises to understand the current and future risks of climate change to their properties, such as sea level rises, flooding, heavy rainfall, extreme heat, wildfires and hurricanes. Risks unrelated to climate change, such as earthquakes and terrorism, are also factored into these models. As one investment manager told researchers: “We are doing this to be proactive. We want to be able to understand what the upper bound of the value impact is so we can adjust for it with our investment strategy.”
Adding protection. Some investors said they were exploring how climate mitigation strategies, such as seawalls, dikes, increased elevation and additional cooling systems, could help better protect their properties.
Evaluating insurance coverage. Many investors were proactively looking at their insurance to make sure they were protected. For example, they were looking at insurance partners to help anticipate rising premiums due to climate risks and the availability of coverage. They also told researchers they hoped that, in the future, insurance providers would reward those who are proactive in investing in mitigation efforts to better protect their properties against climate risks.
Assessing city-level responses. Investors may be more attracted to cities that are proactive in addressing climate change. Some investors told researchers they were evaluating the city government’s preparedness for climate change. “They are seeking markets where governments have the authority, function and funding to address climate risk, whether at the municipal-government level or through supportive national policies and practices,” according to the report.
Source: “Climate and Real Estate Investment,” Urban Land Institute (April 2019)
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Realistic Home Values Led to Strong Sales in March
Naples, Fla. (April 18, 2019) – According to the March 2019 Market Report released by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), the median closed price of homes decreased 5.6 percent to $340,000 in March 2019 from $360,000 in March 2018. Broker analysts reviewing the report clarified that the median closed price decrease was due, in part, to an increase in the number of closed sales of homes priced under $500,000 during the last year.
The March 2019 Market Report showed overall closed sales decreased 1.7 percent to 973 in March 2019 compared to 990 in March 2018. This decrease was isolated to the single-family home market, whose sales in March 2019 fell by just 17 total sales compared to March 2018. The condominium market in March ended with 499 closed sales, the same number reported in March 2018.
However, as Bill Coffey, Broker Manager of Amerivest Realty Naples pointed out, the report also showed closed sales in March increased 64 percent compared to February 2019, which reported 595 closed sales; and it increased 65 percent compared to January 2019, which reported 588 closed sales.
“Sales activity in the first two months of the quarter was down compared to last year, but the March report showed a sales resurgence which I think will continue into April,” said Budge Huskey, President, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “Once a seller finds their realistic list price, the home tends to sell. The proof is in the report, which showed that sellers received 95.3 percent of the final list price in March.”
Many brokers have reported an increase in contracts (pending sales) during March, which they feel contributed to the 10 percent decrease in overall inventory for March. It is important to remember that inventory during the first quarter of 2018 included many homes that were put back on the market after having been taken off the market for repairs following Hurricane Irma during the last quarter of 2017. As such, the report showed 8.7 months of inventory for March 2019, down 11 percent compared to March 2018.
“When inventory was tight, there was more urgency to buy,” said Wes Kunkle, President and Managing Broker at Kunkle International Realty. “But so far this year buyers have been spending time looking around more and at new construction too.” Kunkle added that the Southwest Florida MLS showed “about 19 percent of the single-family closed sales in March were new construction.”
The NABOR® March 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:
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CATEGORIES
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MAR 2018 | MAR 2019 | CHANGE |
| Total closed sales (month/month) | 990 | 973 | -1.7% |
| Median closed price (month/month) | $360,000 | $340,000 | -5.6% |
| Total active listings (inventory) | 7,593 | 6,829 | -10.1% |
| Average days on market | 96 | 107 | +11.5% |
| Single-family closed sales (month/month) | 491 | 474 | -3.5% |
| Single-family median closed price (month/month) | $450,000 | $415,000 | -7.8% |
| Single-family inventory | 3,701 | 3,507 | -5.2% |
| Condominium closed sales (month/month) | 499 | 499 | 0% |
| Condominium median closed price (month/month) | $287,000 | $280,000 | -2.4% |
| Condominium inventory | 3,892 | 3,322 | -14.6% |
Geographically, the median closed price for condominiums in the Naples Beach area (34102, 34103, 34108) increased 13 percent to $805,0000 in March 2019 compared to $711,500 in March 2018, the highest increase of all areas reported. The median closed price for single-family homes increased the most in South Naples (34112, 34113) by 2.6 percent to $410,000 in March 2019 compared to $400,000 in March 2018. Inventory during March increased in only one segment and place: single-family homes in the Naples Beach area. This area’s inventory increased by 4.1 percent and is where a large majority of “spec” home building is taking place.
Brokers reviewing the March report also discussed their concern about how water quality issues and short-term rental limits might impact the Naples housing market moving forward. Adam Vellano, West Coast Sales Manager, BEX Realty – Florida, and a member of the NABOR® Water Quality Task Force, remarked that actions by the new Governor to fast-track many delayed water-quality projects, appoint a new South Florida Water Management Board, and request the Army Corps of Engineers modify Lake Okeechobee’s scheduled releases so there are fewer in the summer, is already being met with positive response.
“If the county puts limits on rentals we may see a spike in inventory,” said Mike Hughes, Vice President and General Manager for Downing-Frye Realty, Inc., who added that a limit would be bad news for a good portion of our seasonal residents and the homeowners and investors who benefit from a healthy rental market. Huskey responded that “a move to restrict rental lengths to the term suggested could significantly impact sales in some areas of unincorporated Collier County.” As it stands, his company already has an 85 percent rental reservation rate for next season which shows confidence in the market.
If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Naples, contact a Naples REALTOR® who has the experience and knowledge to provide an accurate market comparison or negotiate a sale. A REALTOR® can ensure your next purchase or sale in the Naples area is a success. Search for your dream home and find a Naples REALTOR® on Naplesarea.com.
The Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®) is an established organization (Chartered in 1949) whose members have a positive and progressive impact on the Naples Community. NABOR® is a local board of REALTORS® and real estate professionals with a legacy of nearly 60 years serving 6,000 plus members. NABOR® is a member of the Florida Realtors and the National Association of REALTORS®, which is the largest association in the United States with more than 1.3 million members and over 1,400 local board of REALTORS® nationwide. NABOR® is structured to provide programs and services to its membership through various committees and the NABOR® Board of Directors, all of whose members are non-paid volunteers.
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.
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A Word from Downing-Frye Broker & General Manager Mike Hughes
For the third month in a row, we will have over 300 pending sales for the month. The total April pending sales contracts will be below what we had in March, but, still a very good month for us. 
