Along with record-breaking sales in December (a 146% increase over December of 2007), there are some other statistics on Lee County home sales that are showing that Lee county real estate market (Cape Coral - Fort Myers) is a hot commodity and the pace is picking up dramatically. Three month and year to date home sales charts are below. Inventory, which was a 21 month supply a year ago is now just a 4.2 month supply.

Three Month Activity

The above chart shows that over a six month period (Nov 13 2008 – Feb 12 2009) most propeties are selling in less than 90 days:

• 75% of the homes and condos on the market during this period sold with in 90 days.
• Of those, 44.7% homes and condos sold within 30 days.

Also in the above chart, the final ratio of the selling price to the asking price is narrowing, with properties that are selling within 30 days going just a few percentage points under the asking price.

Year-to-Date Activity

Since January 1 of 2009, total sales volume of homes and condos in Lee County is just under three hundred and fifty million. The exact figure is $342,075,785.00, with $209,000,000 in pending transactions and $133,000,000 sold.

During this period, the average days-on-market is 70. And we see the same pattern of the selling/asking price ratio – homes selling within 30 days are going just a few points under list price. These are impressive figures given that we are only 43 days into the 09 calendar year.

Translation for Buyers?

The most important take away from these figures is that sellers – whether they be foreclosures or individual owners – are pricing to sell. When the price gets to the right amount for that category and location of home, the property sells quickly, and sellers are no longer willing to wait 6 months to get the price into that sweet spot that will get it sold.

This also is clear evidence that the much anticipated buyers coming back to the market after years of pent up demand is now reality.

Source: Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Multiple Listing Service.

Postscript: This message was sent to all Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Realtor Association Members on Feb 13, 2009:

“Yesterday, our January housing stats were released to the media which included the good news that our current inventory levels are 4.2 months, down from 21.5 months a year ago. Unfortunately, this message was lost as the media outlets used a statistic not released by the Association, but attributed to us, focusing on the decline in the median single family home price vs. the height of the market.”