BayWatch Magazine – Property Values | December 2021
“How is the real estate market?” We hear this question often, but this fall as folks return to Bonita Bay the individual asking the question has a gleeful look on his or her face. The Bonita Bay real estate market is soaring.
As of this writing, the S&P/Case Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index is up 19.7 for the previous twelve months. In Bonita Bay, prices are similarly up in all categories, and we’ve seen some eye-popping transactions. A first floor Harbor Landing coach home just sold for $567,000. A second floor Hamptons coach home sold for $950,000. A home in Creekside just sold for $3,100,000, 29% higher than the previous high mark for the neighborhood. And high-rise prices are well above prices from one or two years ago.
The average number of days on market before accepting a contract is down 41% from this time last year. At this time last year there were 93 resale properties available in Bonita Bay, today there are 26 resale properties available, and this is actually a bump up as this number was in the teens this summer. You’ve likely heard that many properties are selling at or above asking price – 98 of the 230 Bonita Bay sales in the Multiple Listing Service year-to-date have sold at or above the listing price, and as of this writing 33 of the 50 most recent sales have sold at or above the listing price.
Can this continue? For those of us who were here during the correction of 2007 to 2008, as well as other less drastic ups and downs, it might seem like the proverbial shoe could drop. But the buyers keep calling and they keep coming. Florida’s population increased 14.2% or by over 2,700,000 people between the 2010 census and 2020 census, and this doesn’t include the continued demand by those who wish to be here seasonally.
So until something changes we expect sellers to enjoy this market. For a desirable property in proper condition we expect that a seller can continue to ask on the high end of a justifiable price range, and we expect that they will get close to their price, so long as a seller doesn’t get greedy and go outside of that range. As for a buyer, can a buyer get past the memories of last year’s prices? Can the buyer digest the fact that the coach home he or she missed out on last year at $425,000 will now be $525,000? Or the $800,000 villa home will now come at a price of $1,000,000?
A word of encouragement: Since one year prior to this writing the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 26% and the S&P 500 is up 31%. If you would have been told last year that your portfolio will be up 26% or 31% but you’ll have to pay $100,000 more for that condo we think the response would have been, “I can live with that.”
The numbers clearly say that this is the place to be.