Joe Bartos

The Marco Island real estate market has continued to show improvement through the third quarter of 2011. Overall sales volumes have increased for the third consecutive quarter. Marco Island total sales volumes registered over 50% over Q3 of 2010. Inventory has shrunk by over 14% as compared last year and new listings were down by nearly 14%. while overall pending sales were up nearly 39% over Q3 2010. There was good news on the sales prices as well. Overall average sales were up by nearly 15% over the previous Q3.

Condos and lots had strong performances in Q3 2011. Lots lead the way with a 113% increase in volume and an average sale price increase of almost 15%. Pending contracts in these categories were also strong with 104% and 91+% increases, respectively. We are seeing a lot of buyer’s now opting to buy waterfront lots and build new construction. This has taken some of the wind out of the sails of existing home sales. However, homes sales volumes still registered a respectable 4.29% increase. Pending home sales showed a bit of weakness. We believe the weakness is due the depletion of quality properties in the market value range as well as the trend towards new construction.

Distressed properties (aka Foreclosure and short sales) made up about 15% of active homes, 8% of active condos and 11% of the active lots. Overall, Marco Island’s 15% foreclosure rate for homes is below national (17%), Florida(27%) and Collier County(26%) levels, according to RealtyTrac.

With season soon upon us, we have seen a flurry of buyers entering the Marco Island real estate market . We anticipate that we will see good sales volumes through December that will continue as we enter January. However, we should not expect any appreciable difference in sales price at least until mid-to-late Q1 2012.

Click to see all of the Marco Island Real Estate Statistics for Q3 2011

The Marco Island Real Estate market continues to show consistent improvement in September 2011. New Listings were 25% lower than last September and overall inventory was down 14.5%. Overall Closed transactions were up almost 33%. While the month to month average and median prices were positive, all signs of a stabilizing market.

Individually, the single family homes were on pace with last month but below last September's numbers. We believe that due to the strong interest in homes in the past that the inventory has been depleted of quality homes that are well priced. Good properties are leaving the market quickly. The silver lining is that average home sales price was up nearly 18% month to month and near even with last year. Could we be seeing a change in the direction of home prices?

On the flipside, lots and condos had a banner month!

In September, lot sales surges 225% over last year and 44% over last month. Lot are at bargain prices which has caused some of the buyer's to consider new construction vs. existing homes. This has taken some of the momentum away from single family home sales as buyer's are not finding what they want in single families. We are already seeing waterfront lot price going up slightly.

Condos also had a triple digit increase over last September, moving up over 106%. We have seen a renewed interest in condos. There was over a 30% increase in the condo average price index. Most likely attributed to a increase in the higher end condos. However, there are still plenty of condo bargains to be had in the Marco Island real estate market.

Overall, the market is primed for an great season! The values are there but you will need to move quickly as we are seeing the good properties leave the market quickly. If you have been sitting on the fence, now is the time to get off and find your place in paradise.

See all the Marco Island Real Estate Statistics for September 2011

It appears that the foreign investors are back! Considering the discount prices on us real estate and the weak dollar, foreigners from Canada to China are snatching up values for cash all over the US. In a National Association of Realtors report released in July, 28 percent of Realtors reported they had worked with at least one international client, up from 23 percent a year earlier. Of those Realtors, 18 percent had completed at least one transaction with an international buyer, compared with only 12 percent in 2009.

See the 2010 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity

Southwest Florida has been seeing its share of foreign buyers and we would expect this trend to continue as fears from the Gulf oil spill continue to dissipate. The southwestern coast of Florida holds 4 of the top 6 most active florida markets for international buyers. Buyers from Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Latin America seem to make up the majority of foreign investors in Southwest Florida. However, we will likely see more eastern European and Chinese investors trickle in. Who could blame them? SWFL real estate has seen a dramatic price reduction after leading the nation in appreciation through the real estate boom. There was a reason that people were buying here before. Because it's PARADISE!

For the whole story, see Foreign buyers see big opportunity in housing bust » Marco Eagle

I've watched a lot of trends and analyzed the Marco Island real estate statistics until I see double. There is just no denying that there is something positive happening in the Marco Island and Naples area. Case in point,

• web traffic and qualified leads have increase considerably over the last year
• Pending & closed sales are outperform the previous year's volumes
• Buyers have become more proactive and aggressive in their searches
• Value properties are receiving multiple offers at the same time
• Buyers continue to queue into this summer's buyer's market

In the last couple of months, I've been in a few dogfights to position buyer's into top spot to get these hot properties. As well, there have been several cases where I attempted to submit an offer only to find out that it went pending the night before. This kind of activity on the low ends will certainly help the whole market as list to sell ratios shrink and price level out.

Although it will still be some time before we see any significant appreciation, we are seeing a shift in the buyer's mindset which will make these next several months very interesting.