A bit of positive real estate news for Naples and Collier County. In August, real estate sales volumes of were up for the 7th consecutive month. August saw 373 closings up from 293 in August of 2007. Median selling prices have declined dramatically during this period, from $375,000 to $238,000.

Reports like this reinforce the fact that Southwest Florida has suddenly become quite affordable again. Many projects are now selling for less than replacement cost. Prices should remain below replacement levels until the investor fueled speculative inventory is worked through. This low-end inventory overhang is helping to compress luxury home prices as well, even though this sector was much less investor impacted.

Sales increase again for Naples real estate [Naples Daily News]

Topping the housing starts in Southwest Florida

The top ten communities for housing starts in the Naples-Fort Myers market are: Gateway, 730; Village Walk of Bonita Springs, 562; Bella Terra, 375; Verona Walk, 359; Sandoval, 328; Olympia Pointe, 312; Verandah, 308; Coral Lakes, 245; Tuscany Cove, 223; and Palmira, 191.

Planners anticipate build-out by 2016

A surprising announcement from Collier County officials suggesting that Golden Gate Estates will reach full build-out by 2016. Golden Gate Estates has approximately 100,000 lots and about 50 percent now have homes built on them.

Southwest Florida is home to several massive plated communities including Golden Gate Estates, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Northport, and Rotunda. As far as I know, this 2016 build-out projection positions Golden Gate to be the first of these communities to reach capacity.

It would be an interesting exercise to estimate the total amount of capital gains to be realized on all the vacant lots in these five Southwest Florida plated communities prior to 100 percent build-out. It is probably something like 900,000 lots x ($100,000 average price -$3,000 average initial price) = $87.3 billion.

Estates expected to hit capacity in ’16, study says [Naples Daily News]

Naples tops pricey list

The debate over whether a real estate price correction is around the corner is continuing with no definitive answers, but a new study says Naples is the most overvalued market in the country.

The third-quarter study, which examined 299 metropolitan areas in the country, puts the Naples market at No. 1, with homes being 84 percent overvalued. The Cape Coral metropolitan statistical area came in at No. 28 for the third quarter of this year, with home prices 51.9 percent over their value. That’s up from No. 35 in the second quarter.

Study: Naples most overvalued market in nation [Bonita News]

New construction plagued by shortages

Home construction dropped sharply in November in Collier County, thanks in part to material shortages made worse by Hurricane Wilma and a maturing market that continues to see a slowing of growth here.

The number of single-family houses and condominiums permitted in November in Collier fell to levels nearly half what they were last year, Collier County building permit data shows. Collier builders received final permits, or certificates of occupancy, for 271 homes and condos in November, compared with 513 for the same month last year.

Material shortages cause home construction slowdown [Naples Daily News]

266 golf community lots to be auctioned

An auction of Quail West estate home lots in Naples this weekend will be a good litnus test for the strength of the local luxury home market. This is a unique approach by Orlando based Ginn Company to market a high-end community.

Lot prices range from the $600,000s to $1.3 million. They’re available in two sizes — one acre and a half-acre. They include a full golf membership to Quail West’s country club valued at $175,000. Club membership is required.

Orlando-based Ginn Co. will unveil its new vision for the upscale Quail West residential community at the Collier-Lee county line. And for the first time since acquiring the development and spending millions on improvements, the company will offer estate-size lots for sale.

About 1,000 registered to buy the lots, so Ginn stopped taking reservations from interested buyers three weeks ago. About 40 percent of the reservations have come from local residents. All of the potential buyers coming to the event have put down a $500 deposit. But there are only 266 home sites for sale at the master-planned, golf course community off Bonita Beach Road, a half-mile east of Interstate 75.

“Our goal is to sell every one of those 266 lots,” said Tom Brosnan, vice president of sales for Quail West. “We are confident in saying that we expect sales from this event to be well over $200 million.”

There are currently 17 re-sale lots listed in Quail West ranging in price from a low of $650,000 to a high of $1,490,000.

Hundreds coming for weekend bids on lots [Naples Daily News]

Naples & Cape Coral climbing overvaluation index

Naples topped the Global Insight/National City home overvaluation index for Q2 05 with a 79.4% overvalued rating, up from 3rd place and a 61.9% rating in Q1 05.

Cape Coral ranked 34th nationally in Q2 05 with a 44.1% overvalued rating up from 42nd place and a 34.6% rating in Q1 05.

Global Insight’s study merges data and forecasts for home prices, home sales, housing stock, and household income—with a methodology developed by the economics department of National City Corporation examines current and expected housing prices in the 299 largest US Metropolitan areas.

Study findings indicate that 53 metropolitan areas, representing 31 percent of the total value of the US housing market, “are extremely overvalued” and face a high risk of price correction. To be considered “extremely overvalued,” markets had to have current prices exceeding the expected price by 30 percent or more, a threshold that was determined from the median degree of overvaluation that preceded 63 known local price drops over the past 20 years.

Extreme Overvaluation in Housing Market Becomes More Pervasive During Second Quarter [Global Insight]
Housing Study Table Q2.xls [Global Insight]

Median Collier home price hits $500,000

Collier County median home prices hit $500,800 in August and continue to be the highest in Florida. This figure was up from $397,300 in August 2004 and up from $490,400 in July 2005.

My hunch is that these figures will continue to rise as long as prices continue to rise in the northern states where the inflow of Naples boomers originate. For many boomers, spending the extra money for a home in Naples is easily justified by the culture, dining and shopping that are all in close proximity. Other SW Florida communities lacking a real downtown experience like Ft. Myers, Cape Coral and Punta Gorda need to take action to create this type of environment.

The big challenge for Collier County will be for businesses to attract necessary workers that can no longer touch a home in close proximity to their job.

Collier homes costliest in Florida [News-Press]

Evaluating new laws to limit rental occupants

The City of Naples is exploring ways of regulating the number of occupants in a rental property. With an eye towards the restrictions in place in the university community of Gainesville, Naples is exploring various restrictions.

Multiple restriction alternatives under investigation include confining cars to paved or gravel driveways, setting yearly inspections for rental properties, requiring landlords to obtain rental permits or further restricting the number of unrelated people per household.

Regulating the use of private property is tricky and it would appear that the Naples City Council is walking a very fine line on this issue.

City Council takes aim to regulate number of people living in single household [Naples Daily News]

Median Collier County single-family home is $468,000

Move over West Palm County, Collier has taken the throne as the top priced county for single-family homes in the state of Florida during the first quarter of 2005.

The Naples area with it’s fine beaches, shopping and dining has long been a favorite place for affluent retirees. The entire SW Florida region benefits from the attractiveness and beauty of Naples and rising prices throughout the region are a testament to this.

Collier home prices soar far beyond the rest of the state [Naples Daily News]

Florida most popular state for second homes

Naples, FL ranked first in the nation in a second home indexing compiled by the website EscapeHomes.com. This site tracks user searches for second homes on it’s site. Seven of the top ten locations were for second homes were in coastal communities including the Florida communities of: Destin; Orlando; Tampa and Venice.

It is interesting to note the breakdown the types of properties searchers were looking for in Naples: 34% investors; 30 % retirements homes; 24% vacation property and 12% permanent relocation.

Florida the hottest spot for second homes; Naples tops March online real estate index [EscapeHomes.com]