Market conditions and trends are important for both condominium buyers and sellers in determining their actions in the Naples real estate market, as well as, cyclical variations. The market conditions for Naples condominiums cover both the month of March 2008 and the first calendar quarter of 2008, ending March 31, 2008. The monthly analysis reflects activity during March with comparative data for the previous years of 2007 and 2006. The quarterly analysis covers the first three calendar months of 2008, therefore, giving a more comprehensive picture of the current market conditions and trends.
MARCH ANALYSIS
NEW LISTINGS:
New listings during the month of March 2008 totaled 664 condo units. In 2007 the total number of units is 856 and in 2006 the total number was 1067. The number of new listings for condos is lower than in the previous March’s shows a positive sign in the real estate market conditions. The affect of less condo listings enter the market will eventually cause the available inventory of condominiums to start to shrink. This can be seen by looking at the absorption rate based upon the current closed sales versus new listings, which equates to 3.2 months.
PENDING SALES:
The pending sales in March were 292 units, which exceeded the March 2007 number of 287 units and the March 2006 figure of 251 units. The March pending sales of 292 units is the highest monthly number since August 2005, where the pending sales were 325.
CLOSED SALES:
During March 207 condo units were closed. Lower than March 2007’s 217 and 2006’s 214 the decrease in volume is not significant. The number of closed sales is being affected by lenders using stricter guidelines in addition to the time to respond to possible short sale sales contracts. Looking back at the months of January and February the number of pending sales totaled 358 condominiums. Most real estate transactions from date the property goes under contract or pending, the transaction closes between 30 and 60 days with an average of 45 days, so the number of closed sales appears to be fairly good.
MEDIAN SOLD PRICE:
The median price of a Naples condo sold in March was $279500 versus $310000 in March 2007 and $366500 in March 2006. The price reduction between 2008 and 2007 is 9.8%, while it is 23.7% between 2008 and 2006.
INVENTORY:
Currently there are about 5586 condominium units on the market for sale; a slight increase over February’s 5582 units. The months of inventory for sale are about 36 months versus 37 months in February. This is another positive sign of the condominium real estate market changing.
QUARTERLY ANALYSIS
NEW LISTINGS:
During the first quarter of 2008 a total of 2401 condos were listed for sale. This compares very favorably to the 3087 condominiums placed on the market during the first quarter of 2007 and extremely favorably to the 3565 units in 2006. In addition the first quarter of 2008 had less new listings than the second and fourth quarters of 2006. Based upon the quarterly closed sales and new listings the absorption rate is 4.8 months.
CLOSED SALES:
During the first quarter of 2008 a total of 505 condominiums were sold, while 482 condos sold in 2007 and 595 in 2006. Other than the second quarter of 2007 the volume of closed has been the highest since the second quarter of 2006.
MEDIAN SOLD PRICE:
During the first quarter of 2008 the median price paid for a Naples condominium was $300000 versus $325000 in the first quarter of 2007 and $377500 in the first quarter of 2006. The price decline as a percentage is 7.7% between 2008 and 2007, while between 2008 and 2006 the percentage is 20.5%. The median price for the most current three quarters has been increasing from $275000 in the 2007 third quarter and $290000 in the fourth quarter. Three straight quarters of the median price increasing maybe a sign that the prices are bottoming out or have bottomed out and should be watched especially by buyers as well as sellers.
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