2007 First Quarter Sales

NAPLES AREA BOARD OF REALTORS®REPORTS FIRST QUARTER TRANSACTIONS
NAPLES -

The Naples Area Board of Realtors® has released first quarter 2007 statistics for home listings and sales in Naples, utilizing the Board’s local reporting format.
In this report, only sales of homes within the Naples geographic area are being shown - specifically all areas in Collier County excluding Marco Island and other outlying areas - to reflect an accurate and relevant portrait of the local real estate market.
A summary of the statistics is presented in graph format, along with the following analysis.
New listings as of March 31, 2007, were 5,885 as compared to the record 6,851 reported in the first quarter of 2006, marking a drop of 14 percent.
Pending sales during the first quarter of 2007 were reported at 1,491, a slight decrease of 4.5 percent from the first quarter of 2006.
There were 939 closed sales reported at the end of the first quarter of 2007, a drop of 25 percent from the first quarter of 2006 which reported 1,250 closed sales.
The median sales price of homes sold during the first quarter of 2007 was $399,512. The median refers to the middle value in a set of statistical values that are arranged in ascending or descending order, in this case prices at which homes were actually sold.
It should be noted that in any given period the median can vary greatly if there is an anomaly, a single sale that is significantly higher or lower than other properties in the area.
With Naples Area Board of Realtors® members reporting continuing increases in showings to qualified buyers and pending sales indicating improved activity, the expectation is that the market will maintain an upward push.
Median pricing is again showing a rise, with an overall upward trend line over the long term. Median prices have not yet reached the level experienced during the record sales in early 2005 and first quarter 2006, but the value of the Naples location remains a strong draw for luxury second-home buyers and investors on the national and international level.
Inventory: As of April 1, 2007, there were 12, 123 active listings on the market. With 4,183 homes sold in the previous 12 months, it is calculated that the current inventory represents a 35 month supply.
The calculation of months’ supply is derived by dividing the total number of listings at the beginning of the month (Supply) by the number of sales which closed over the past 12 months (Demand). This way we normalize the data by utilizing the prior rolling 12 months closing statistics (Demand). This methodology illustrates a more realistic trend which takes into account market seasonality. After we calculate the years supply, we then multiply the years supply times 12 to get the months supply. This is the current method used by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.