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Single-family homes were listed for sale in the heart of Southwest Florida’s market at a faster rate over the last three months than any other three-month period over the past decade.  

Real estate agent Denny Grimes, founder of Grimes & Team of Keller Williams, discovered the trend while looking at the data for March, April and May.  

Single-family homes were selling in Southwest Florida so fast last year and into this year, that sellers sometimes didn’t need to put up a for sale sign. It’s a trend that is starting to change as the supply of new listings grows.  

“Here’s what I want you to put into perspective,” Grimes said, “when you look at the numbers and median sales price, those were things that went under contract 30, 60 and 90 days ago. Those were already under contract. Those are lagging indicators. What’s interesting, is inventory.”  

There were 4,117 homes listed in Lee County, 1,604 homes listed in Collier County and 2,203 listed in Charlotte County.   

Lee and Collier combined for 876 asking price decreases over the past seven days, and 206 properties came back on the market after being under contract, said real estate agent Ronnie Delfino. He saw 926 new listings on the market for those two counties compared to 737 homes that closed during the same time span.  

“For the last year or so you’ve seen more listings selling than pending than you would see new listings hitting the market,” Delfino said. “Right now, we’re about 150 to 200 listings more than sold or pending in that seven-day period. So, you’re definitely starting to see it slow down a little bit. “ 

Comparing any year to 2021 isn’t fair, Grimes said. 

“There were no homes for sale, because there were no homes to buy. When you’re comparing a good year to a perfect year, it’s going to be short,” Grimes said. “The important thing to watch is the new home listings. What changes the direction of the market is the level of the inventory.”  

Over the past year, it was typical to see more pending sales than listings.  

“Now, for the last seven days in Lee County, there’s a total of 425 new listings,” Grimes said. “And in the same seven-day period, there were 396 that went pending. So, it’s just now turning. There are more new listings coming on the market than are coming off, which suggests the tide is turning on inventory.  

“The other thing that we’re seeing is there were 409 price decreases and 43 price increases. There are almost 10 times more sellers saying they should cut their price. That’s not where it was six months ago.”  

The median sales price, another key housing market indicator, was still growing slightly in Collier from April to May, but it was slowing in Lee and dropping in Charlotte.  

In Collier County, it was $775,000, up by 4.2% from $740,000 in April. Lee County’s median sale price was $470,000, up by 0.42% from $468,000. Charlotte County saw an almost 5% drop to $384,000. 

Inflation, rising interest rates and the summer slowdown in Southwest Florida combined to cause a shift in the single-family home market, Grimes and Delfino both said. The days of selling homes for 15% to 20% above list price in just days might be over for now.  

“If I had a crystal ball, I’d be a billionaire,” Delfino said. “Do I see prices coming down a little bit? Sure. Quite a few price decreases over the last seven to 14 days in our market. I think it’s just more our market normalizing itself.” 

Copyright 2024 Gulfshore Life Media, LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior written consent.

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