By Jeff Jaarda, for BayWatch News
This article appeared in the March 2015 issue of BayWatch News
It’s nice to reflect on how far things have come in the real estate market the last few years.
It’s been well documented in this space that inventory has been scarce. As of this writing there are 78 resale properties for sale in Bonita Bay, while at this same point in 2014 there were 140 properties for sale, in 2013 there were 211 for sale, and in 2012 there were 208 for sale. The average sales price in Bonita Bay is up 38% from two years ago while the median sales price is up 16% from two years ago. Most importantly, like-properties are selling for more year over year.
How do these numbers compare to competing, amenity-rich communities here in Southwest Florida? Consistently, inventories are down. Almost uniformly over the same 2-year period average sales prices are up between 36% to 39% and median sales prices up between 4% to 27% in the communities of Shadow Wood, Pelican Bay and Grey Oaks. Mediterra, however, has seen a 5% dip in average sales price and a 23% decline in median sales price over this same 2-year period. Market forces aside, this seems attributable to Mediterra’s comparatively pricey membership and community fee structures.
What we all really want to know is what WILL happen with home values going forward? That’s always the million dollar question.
Nationwide, Zillow predicts a 2.5% appreciation in home values in 2015, while Realtor.com predicts an annual gain of 4-5% in 2015. And though this represents a slowing of appreciations from 2014, affordability nationwide may worsen – it is projected that at home values will still rise faster than incomes.
But obviously real estate is local and we know that our Southwest Florida market is unique in many ways. There is the old saying “Teach a parrot the terms ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ and you’ve got yourself an economist”. To keep it simple, this probably sums up a lot of what we’ve all seen here in Southwest Florida and Bonita Bay.
So what does it mean going forward? Are you Buying? Know that you have competition in today’s market and gone are the days of naming your price and terms. Selling? Understand your competition both inside and outside of Bonita Bay, and while not getting greedy you stand to enjoy a little more of a Seller’s market than we’ve seen in years past.