80 percent of the foreign buyers this year were Canadian
The Canadians are coming.
Canadians driving Naples area home salesThey're one of the groups driving more home and condo sales in the Naples area.
In November, area Realtors closed 512 sales and wrote 812 new contracts, six more than last year, according a monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.
Last November, reported 497 closed sales — 15 fewer than the same month this year.
"We are seeing more and more Canadians purchasing second homes here. As a matter of fact the majority of the foreign buyers that have bought in 2011 in our market have been Canadian," said Bud
About 80 percent of the foreign buyers this year were Canadian, she said.
"It's a good exchange rate, plus they feel confident in Florida as a real estate market," Bud said.
She said second home buyers are a large part of the market, along with investors looking for bargains.
monthly reports reflects all sales made by the association's members in Collier County, excluding Marco Island.
The report shows that most of the activity continues to be in the under $300,000 market, with 379 closed sales and 558 new contracts written in that price range in November. That's being driven, in large part, by foreclosures and short sales, or sales made for less than what's owed on a mortgage.
In the Naples area, the median price for closed sales last month dropped to $160,000, down from $172,000 a year ago. However, it edged up in some price segments, including the $1 million to $2 million and the over $2 million markets.
The median is the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less.
In the $1 million to $2 million price range, pending sales – or new contracts written – grew by more than 42 percent to 37 in November, up from 26 in the same month a year ago. There were 22 closed sales in this upper end market last month, up from 17 last year.
A shrinking inventory of homes and condos is helping to lure more luxury home buyers, Shelton Weeks, director of the Lucas Institute for Real Estate Development & Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University, said in a statement.
"They may be looking at their opportunity costs in the capital markets and consider real estate a more suitable place to invest their money," he said.
There are now 7,625 homes and condos on the market in the Naples area. That's down from 9,352 a year ago.
The smaller inventory of homes is driving more new construction. Contracts for new homes are not reflected in The report.
"There is definitely a surge of new builder product," Bud said. "Many of the builders are back in business."
He expects sales to be stronger in the coming months than they were a year ago.
"People are not going to continue to wait, thinking the prices are going to go down,"Bud said, "because all the evidence points to the fact that the prices have stabilized and are creeping up slowly."