How Florida compares to the Nation in sales and pricing....

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and town houses rose 0.4 percent in November from October.

Nationwide:

The median price of a home sold last month was $210,200. That marked a 3.3 percent drop from a year ago. It was the fifth biggest annual decline on record. The median price is where half sell for more and half sell for less.

Existing home sales jumped 10.3 percent in November from October in the West.

The Midwest was flat.

The South fell by 2 percent.

The Northeast dropped 3.3 percent.

The inventory of unsold homes in November was 4.27 million homes.

At the current sales pace it would take 10.3 months to exhaust that overhang.

Statewide in Florida:

The median price fell 10 percent from $239,800 to $215,800.

The number of sales fell 30 percent from 11,609 to 8,106 for single-family homes.

Condos median price fell 9 percent from $204,500 to $186,700.

The number of sales was down 29 percent from 3,356 to 2,375.

In Lee County numbers were unavailable due to merging of data and reports. However, I would like to share the permit numbers as a means to gage the area.

35 New single family home permit numbers for unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach were issued for the Month of December. The number equates to a 26-year low....The previous low keep in mind for Lee County occurred in November 1981 when 45 permits were for the month.

Cape Coral issued 9 permits in December, which is three less than the all time previous low record of 12 issued for November 2007.

For Comparison sake.... take note on the Historical chart I've been keeping up on that shows the numbers month to month since the "BOOM" Began in SW Florida.

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Jan 313 547 746 632 305

Feb 301 466 782 754 299

Mar 299 570 858 849 318

Apr 403 632 790 865 264

May 445 660 901 906 303

Jun 365 666 1,025 757 448

Jul 400 638 721 583 135

Aug 571 463 1,309 590 63

Sep 423 510 1,181 458 76

Oct 474 641 861 444 91

Nov 406 662 703 357 60

Dec 419 698 626 292 35

*This table of historic totals for single-family permits includes unincorporated Lee County, as well as the City of Bonita Springs and the Town of Fort Myers Beach, which contract with the county for permitting services. (Does Not Include Cape Coral Numbers)

In 2007 Lee County issued:

2,393 single family home permits

1,674 permits for duplexes and apartments units

Commercial permitting for 2007=$551.4 million

Lee County issued a total of 27,769 permits in 2007 valued at $2.3 billion

In 2006 Lee County issued:

7,392 single family home permits

3,998permits for duplexes and apartments units

Commercial permitting for 2006= $426.6 million

Lee County issued a total of 43,357 permits in 2006 valued at $3.8 billion

SOURCE: Lee County Department of Community Development

Updated 1/2/2008