NAPLES MARKET SNAPSHOT

The Naples, Florida market remains firmly in the hands of the grasp of the ‘summer doldrums’, with sales taking place, but mostly in the upper end ($3,000,000 +) of single family homes and condos. Inventory levels remain extremely high, and that inventory needs to be re significantly reduced so that we can get toward a more balanced market.

One of the keys to reducing inventory is to get the massive amount of over-priced homes off the market. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of over-zealous realtors who have the sellers convinced that the market lives in 2004 – 2005. Coupled with that, there are also a myriad of home sellers who are also living in that bygone era. These two factors help to make up a lot of the inventory, and again, it needs to go away, and by go away, I mean that it needs to be taken off the market.

The good news is two fold. Number one and foremost, Naples is and will most likely always be a world-class destination. Despite the down market, it remains a place where people want to have a primary or secondary home. Secondly, with the strength of the Euro versus the US dollar, many people overseas see Naples as a bargain, where the American buyer might be a bit ambivalent about purchasing.

My forecast for the next year is a rather flat market, but despite that, I feel that we have hit bottom. Certainly once the general public realizes that, the market will again gain strength the increased sales.