Naples-area home sales increase in April

Lower prices have lured back buyers, who are feeling now is the time to buy.
In April, Realtors in the Naples area had their busiest month of the year.
Overall, home sales rose 6 percent to 472, compared to 445 last year, according to a monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors (NABOR).
Meanwhile, pending home sales increased 25 percent to 616, from 494 a year ago.
The report tracks home sales in Collier County, excluding Marco Island.
"I think we’ve hit bottom in Naples and that comes from the economists who really study this," said Arlene Carozza, a Realtor and NABOR’s president.
In an interview with Mad Money host Jim Cramer on CNBC earlier this week, Bob Toll, CEO of homebuilder Toll Brothers, described the west coast of Florida as its "one ray of hope."
"Naples is back. It’s amazing," he said, adding that his company is now out of spec inventory here and its prices are starting to rise in this market.
According to the NABOR statistics, the median price for all homes in the Naples area dropped more than 23 percent last month to $300,000, from $390,000 a year ago.
Joe Ballarino, president of Amerivest Realty in Naples, said a spike in foreclosures and short sales _ sales made for less than the bank is owed _ have driven prices down faster in this market.
In April, the median price dropped to $258,000 for condos, and to $400,000 for single-family homes.
"You have people walking away from properties and banks that just want to get their loan values and are taking less than what they are owed on the property," Ballarino said.
In April, Collier County had 1,043 foreclosure-related filings, up almost 800 percent from a year ago and nearly 40 percent from March, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. Those filings include notification of pending lawsuits, default notices, and bank repossessions.
The trend is expected to continue.
In April, Collier Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock recorded 641 new foreclosure filings.
Buyers haven’t seen such good deals on homes in four to six years, and prices still are adjusting, Ballarino said.
"Those bottoms will be found neighborhood by neighborhood," Ballarino said.
In his own research, he found pending sales in the Naples and Bonita Springs markets in April reached their highest levels since August 2005. In the two markets, there were 853 last month, up from 652 a year ago _ a 30 percent increase.
Homes priced at less than $300,000 are still seeing the most activity. Sales in this range increased 62 percent to 238, from 147 a year ago.
Sales for single-family homes under $300,000 increased 177 percent to 72, from 26 a year ago.
Meanwhile, the pendings grew 337 percent to 131, from 30 a year ago.
Another 166 condos sold for less than $300,000, up from 121 a year ago, in April, and pending sales grew to 163, up from 125 last year.
Other parts of the market are starting to see more activity, too. Pending sales for all homes in the $300,000-to-$500,000 range increased 18 percent.
While overall sales were up in April, condo sales declined 1 percent. There were 270 sales, versus 273 in the same month last year.
However, pending condo sales increased 6 percent to 291 last month, from 275 a year ago.
"I think buyers are starting to realize that the sellers’ pricing is really not going to go down too much more. So the buyers are just starting to come off the sidelines," said Russ Weyer, a senior associate for Orlando-based economic consultant Fishkind & Associates.
By neighborhood, North Naples saw the most sales at 144 last month. The Naples beach area came in second with 133.
Some think the passing of Amendment 1 is starting to help spur sales in Southwest Florida. The amendment, passed by voters in January and now in effect, cut property taxes an average of $240 a year for primary homeowners by doubling the homestead exemption. It also allows residents to take or "port" their Save Our Homes tax protection with them when they move anywhere in Florida and puts a 10 percent cap on tax assessments for non-homestead properties.
"I think some of the activity is due to that. There is no doubt. But there is no way to measure it," Ballarino said.
International buyers also are showing more interest in Southwest Florida because their money is worth so much more against a weak dollar.
Broker Michael Hughes at Downing-Frye Realty Inc. in Naples, said his agents wrote 300 contracts in April, up from 188 in 2007 and 127 in 2006. And those contracts weren’t just for homes under $300,000, which he said was encouraging.
He said homes in the $300,000 to $500,000 range "started to show some pretty big improvement."
"I think a lot of people realize that right now the financing is very reasonable, and yet that financing can change," Hughes said.
Showings still are pretty strong, though the busy winter season has come to an end, he said. He expects May to be another good month.
"The rest of the year remains to be seen. But it’s nice to see us starting to string some nice months in a row," Hughes said.
This year his agents have written 870 contracts, which he describes as "very good for these challenging times."
While activity is up and signs are pointing to a better market, the real estate recovery in Southwest Florida won’t be immediate, with so many homes still on the market, said Weyer of Fishkind & Associates.
"We will probably be there a little while at the bottom before things really start to turn," he said.