Article Courtesy of The News-Press

By Patricia Borns

Published November 26, 2015

The good news for Lee County's real estate market is steady as she goes.

Overall, October's indicators were positive in the sense of a leveling off, with year over year closings up slightly from this time last year – and some very good news for sellers, with home sales prices up substantially from October 2014.

Home and condo sales showed strong gains in most price ranges except at the very low ends. The biggest leap over this time last year came with several big sales of properties $1 million and above, growing that category by 63.6 percent for homes and 200 percent for condos.

The median sales price grew 14 percent over October, 2014 -- from $184,175 to $210,000 for a single-family home -- while the average sale rose by 20,4 percent, breaking the $300,000 mark: from $250,164 in 2014 to $301,080 this year.

Single family home sales were down as much as 40 percent in Estero from October 2014, but up as much as 38.5 percent on Pine Island.

Perhaps not surprisingly as the season bears down on us, October condo sales were up everywhere except Bonita Springs.

Tight inventories continue to drive prices higher, especially in the single-family market.

October active listings were down 10.3 percent from October of 2015, and the month’s supply of inventory was down 20.5 percent from the same time last year.

“I don’t see anything on the radar that’s going to change the influx of permits in the coming months,” Land Solutions CEO Randy Thibaut said. “You’ll probably see some inventory homes being created for the season, but outside that, no big changes anywhere.”

With no compelling reason such as an impact fee discount to promote new starts, Thibault sees the market holding steady with no surprises into January, 2016.