Lee County Market Update May 2022

Click here to watch Mike's Lee County Market Update for the month of May!

From The Desk Of Mike Darda

This month's report focuses on the hottest topics trending now in the local market. As always, if you have any additional questions, please feel free to respond to this email or contact us here at the office at 239-542-2822. We are here to help!

We are starting to see signs that the housing market is cooling! 

National Statistics: 

• Per the National Association of Realtors, sales are down 2.4% month over month. However, the National Association of Realtors also says that we still have a housing supply shortage nationally of about 5.5 million homes! 

Local Statistics:

• Single Family Homes median sale prices are up 29.9% year over year to an average of $470,000. 

• Townhome/Condos median sale price is up 38.5% year over year to an average of $342,000.

Inventory is on the rise!

Cape Coral:

• Single Family Homes currently have 1,022 on the market this month versus the 477 Single Family Homes that were for sale in January 2022. 

• Condos currently have 111 units on the market now versus 35 units that were for sale in January 2022. 

Fort Myers: 

• Single Family Homes currently have 309 on the market this month versus the 116 Single Family Homes that were for sale in January 2022.

• Condos currently have 275 units on the market now versus 133 units that were for sale in January 2022. 

To recap this is still considered a sellers market territory. We are roughly at a 2.5 month supply of homes on the market at the moment. Anything 3 months supply or less is considered a sellers market. 4 months supply is a neutral market, and 5-6 months supply of inventory is considered a buyers market. We are seeing the early signs of a market trending towards more of a normal market! 

Interest rates are up!

Currently for a 30 Year Conventional the rates are at 5.94% which is up from 3.45% in January 2022.

Looking back in history this is roughly the same as interest rates were in 2008, but in 1988-1989 the average interest rate was running 10.5% all day. So historically we feel like these rates are not bad at all.

Should I buy now or wait?

The most common question we get asked is "should we buy now or wait?" So there are a lot of variables that depend on the buyer's individual situation. 

For example, if you are financing, rates are still predicted to go up. So it may be wise to buy now while you can lock in rates at their current level. 

We need to remember markets are cyclical; they go up, they go down. If you own real estate now, most of the factors that are causing that market to go up in down is will be the similar market here locally to do the same.

So the question is, "Where do you want to ride out this market?" Whether it be in a big or small home, it really in the long run will not make much difference since all of the properties tend to go up and down at a similar pace. 

Pros for sellers:

• Supply and demand is still in your favor

• Prices are continuing to go up

Pros for buyers:

• A lot more selection to choose from

• Fewer bidding wars 

• Sellers are tending to be more negotiable on things like price and terms