Housing sales leap in Southwest Florida

Click on title to see the full article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Sales of previously occupied homes took the largest monthly drop in more than 40 years last month across the nation, but Southwest Florida bucked the trend -- in a big way

Home sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose 43 percent while Charlotte County-North Port saw a 42 percent increase, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Monday.

Sales also were up month-to-month in both areas while the nation as a whole saw a nearly 17 percent drop.

"The buyers are turning out and buying houses in large numbers because they have become so cheap," Brad Hunter, the West Palm Beach-based national chief economist for the housing market information provider Metrostudy, told the Herald-Tribune. "Prices have fallen the most sharply in Southwest Florida."

Year-end data showed prices dropped 29 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton and 25 percent in Charlotte County-North Port.

"These purchases are driven by a new group of investors largely dissimilar to the first group of investors who got us into this trouble," Hunter said. "These investors are buying on fundamentals. They are cash investors, and that's good."

Despite a year of declines, December prices in Sarasota-Bradenton were up 5 percent from a year ago and up 4.6 percent from November. The median -- the midpoint between the highest and lowest price -- was $167,400 last month.

In Charlotte County-North Port, the median rose 9 percent to $111,800 from $102,400 a year ago. The price was up 11.8 percent from $100,000 in November.

Statewide, sales rose 33 percent to 14,630 from 11,013 a year ago. There were 14,026 sales in November. The median was $140,400, down 10 percent from $155,300 in December but up about 1 percent from $139,000 in November.

In Punta Gorda, Sun Realty's Bob Gray also said the region's statistics bucked the national December trend because of affordability. "The weather is great, the taxes are reasonable when compared to other parts of the country, and home prices are where they were 10 or 15 years ago," Gray said. "I see investors giving us a big look."


Nationally, December home sales plunged far lower than the 10 percent decline analysts expected even after lawmakers gave buyers extended time to use a tax credit. Buyers were no longer scrambling to qualify for the $8,000 credit that had been due to expire on Nov. 30, but was extended to April 30.