Steve Koffman Real Estate Blog

A look into Cape Coral Florida Home Market

Cape Coral Off water sales trends

   A look at sales data for off water home in Cape Coral shows us a lot about buyer preferences and seller motivation.  The chart below shows data on our current listings in Cape Coral, Fl for non waterfront homes.

	Median List Price	% Active	%  Under Contract	# of Listings	Median Pending Price
REO Homes	$75,000	49%	51%	522	$71,700
Short Sales	$80,500	39%	61%	1139	$79,500
Traditional	$121,450	80%	20%	991	$104,950

 

    This data tells us a number of things. Buyers are still very much drawn to distress properties both short sales and reo or bank owned homes with over 50% of those homes are under contract. Only 20% of traditional home sellers have a contract on their homes.  Distressed homes are priced significantly lower than traditional with banks and short sale sellers being motivated to sell at what buyers are willing to pay.  Reo homes are priced 38% below traditional sellers. Although some of the price difference is in condition of the homes, the difference is striking.  It is also noteworthy to see that the traditional homes under contract are priced significantly lower than the median price.  With buyers having so many options, they are not willing to pay a premium price and homes priced above the median price for comparable home have no chance to sell.

   Our trend for the past 2 years is having our sales heavily weighted to foreclosed or reo homes. In spite of the very strong sales numbers, the number of reo homes on the market has not dried up as new foreclosures and bank releases have kept the pace with sales. Although we have seen a short term pull back of foreclosure sales due to document signing questions, we expect the flow of foreclosed homes will eventually pick back up.

Steve Koffman

Broker/Associate

Century21 Sunbelt Realty

239-443-2463 Steve@koffman.com

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

What does “season” mean to sales in Cape Coral, Florida?

 

   In our south Florida terminology, season is that late fall to spring time of year when our population increases with our seasonal residents moving back down from the north. We also have mini “seasons” with added vacation visitors both over the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.  In the real estate profession, we have always felt the influx of added people in the form of more phone calls, website visits and general interest in homes. Although all homes seem statistically to sell at a higher rate during these months, we see strongest sales in gulf access and in waterfront condos.   Our market has seen dramatic movement over the past 5 years both up and down, looking at the past 3 seasons shows us some statistical trends. The chart below shows the % increase in sales for the 4 season related months versus the other 8 months of the year for Cape Coral.

    Gulf Access homes          +31%

    Waterfront condos         +52%

   Does this mean that prices go up during season?  We have not seen that. The greater price trends over the last few years have far outweighed any seasonal effect as we have seen ongoing price reductions in response to high inventories.  What is true is that sellers will have a greater chance of successfully completing a sale during our winter season.

 

Steve Koffman

Broker/Associate

Century21 Sunbelt Realty

239-443-2463  Steve@koffman.com

How much does pricing matter?

  Although it seems obvious to us as Realtors, the importance of pricing is lost on many sellers and possibly some Realtors who advise them. Our market in Lee County is packed with homes for sale in MLS which have no chance of selling.  We did a small data sample of 55 homes, 30 active, 13 sales and 12 pending to illustrate this. By looking at a group of homes of the same size and age with the same basic amenities, we gathered some data.  

  Median list price of active listings (15 above and 15 below this center)                          $84950

  Actual median sales price of sales since 9/1                                                                                $65000

  Max sales price since 9/1                                                                                                                    $84900

  % of 13 homes sold which were priced below the median                                                        100%

 % of homes priced above median which sold                                                                                   0%

 % of 12 homes with pending contracts which were priced below median price                     90%

   This means that half of all homes, those priced above the median, had no chance of selling and if a buyer did write a contract, there is a very good chance the home will not appraise for a loan. It is a hard reality at times for a seller to accept what a buyer is willing to pay.  A seller may hope that eventually buyers will run out of more competitively priced homes.  The truth in our market is that as soon as homes sell added homes come onto the market either from banks or individual sellers. Of the 13 that sold, 12 either were on the market less than 6 weeks or had a recent price reduction including the time to get through closing.    A good agent will counsel a seller of the true price at which they should offer their home if indeed they truly wish to sell it. 

Steve Koffman

Broker/Associate

Century21 Sunbelt Realty, Inc

239-443-2463  Steve@koffman.com

Cape Coral Lot Update

   Lot sale values remain at much lower prices than in the past.  A number of lots still sell each month in Cape Coral. Our highest lot values were in the winter of 2005-2006. This was driven by the height of our investor purchases, which dominated the lot markets. The chart below summarizes what our peak median sales prices for a quarter were as well as the lowest median prices since the fall of 2004. For comparison, the current median sales price for July is included.  Buyers today are still predominately investors, but at a much lower price than our peak values.  We do not expect land values to change significantly until builders and investors see the need to acquire land for new home sales. This will most likely happen as we start to become short of housing inventory for population growth, which will depend on both local economy and with addition of retirees or second homeowners buying here.  

Steve Koffman

Broker/Associate

Century21 Sunbelt Realty

239-443-2463  Steve@koffman.com
 

Cape Coral Sales and Inventory for May

In May we had another very strong sales month for single family homes in Cape Coral. 564 homes closed past month through MLS. Our inventory now stands at 4107 homes. This is down 177 from the end of April which means 383 homes came onto the market to counter the 564 sales. As has been the pattern in the past year, REO or bank owned homes dominated the market with 42% of sales. Traditional sales were 38% and short sales accounted for 20% of sales. Prices remained fairly constant for the month.

Steve Koffman Broker-Associate

Koffman and Associates

Century21 Sunbelt Realty

239-443-2463   Steve@koffman.com

See all the listings at www.koffman.com

Strong Cape Coral Sales Continue

Cape Coral sales remained very strong with buyers attracted to the great prices. In April, 564 single family homes sold through MLS. This was countered by an influx of homes onto the market. The net effect was a modest reduction of 75 homes from inventory which sits at about 4300 single family homes. As has been the recent trend, the majority of sales have been REO or bank owned homes. We have been seeing a trend however of more traditional sellers choosing to sell. In the past year, traditional sellers have gone from 20% of sales to 35%. At the same time foreclosed homes went from 63% to 44%.  Some of these are sellers which bought at the bottom of our market and with some repair and home improvement have been able to resell. It is an encouraging trend.  

Steve Koffman

Broker/Associate

Century21 Sunbelt Realty, Inc

239-443-2463  steve@koffman.com

Visit us at www.koffman.com to search all area listings