Single-family
home permits hit record mark
Lee
County has sizable February surge
By Dick Hogan
Published on March 5, 2005
Fueled by
a frenzied real estate market, single-family home permits issued in
unincorporated Lee County surged to a record-breaking 782 in February.
That was on top of the 746 issued in January, itself a record-breaking month,
and far more than the 466 issued in February 2004. In Cape Coral, 567 permits
were issued in February compared to a record-breaking 601 in January and 383 in
February 2004.
The market is so hot that builders are having to consciously limit the number of
jobs they undertake to make sure they can deliver on time.
"We're
pulling 300 a month, but that's a combination of Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral,"
said Fred Hermann, president of First Home Builders, the area's largest home
builder. "We're just kind of leveling off at that number, that's what we're
comfortable with. If we do more than that, we start to get a little nervous."
A developer nowadays has to keep a sharp eye on the cost and availability of
building materials, he said. "With all the hurricanes and the repair work,
the demand for shingles and concrete block, you have to plan really carefully
and have good relationships" with suppliers.Right now, Hermann said, "We're
averaging about six months from the moment they walk in the door to the time we
can actually start work on their house. Then it takes us another six months to
completely build it."
"It's just supply and demand," said real estate broker John McWilliams
of Coldwell Banker Preferred Properties, who had been out with a client Friday
looking to buy a second home or some investment property.
Easier
said than done, McWilliams said — at Paseo, a new community being built off
Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers, "We went in to talk about buying. He had
checks to hand over; they would not accept his check" because the developer,
Stock Development, wasn't ready to close the deal, just take reservations that
could lead to a purchase.
In Lehigh Acres, duplexes that went for $160,000 a year ago are going for
$250,000, he said.
That
scenario is playing out all over town as developers find themselves faced with
far more potential customers than they're able to build houses for, McWilliams
said — nowhere more so than in Lehigh Acres, where even the most mundane
properties were getting multiple offers.
"I just got off the phone with a disgruntled Realtor" concerning a
house in Lehigh, McWilliams said. "She made an offer, but now I have five
other people looking at it. I have to act on the seller's instructions, and the
instructions are, 'I'm not going to make a decision until all the offers are
in.' "
The home in question, he said, is a modest frame house "out in the country."
It's listed for $127,900 but "it most likely will sell for more than the
asking price. It will be the proverbial bidding war. And they paid $65,000 three
years ago for the house."
McWilliams' client, Joe Mottola, 43, of New York City, was philosophical about
the high prices. "I'm actually excited, that's the word I'm using. I still
want a good deal, though."
The prices are still a lot lower than in New York, where a two-bedroom apartment
goes for $700,000, said Mottola, who is a building contractor himself.
"Down here I could buy two houses for that. It's a whole different world."
Real
estate broker Jim Simon of The Simon Group, who follows the market for land in
Lehigh, noted that non-waterfront lots commonly sell for more than $40,000 now,
substantially up in just the past couple months.
Simon recalled regretfully that "we could have bought all we wanted five
years ago for twelve hundred bucks."
Mary
Gibbs, director of the county Department of Community Development, said her
workers are doing the permitting and inspections but "barely. We're having
a pretty hard time keeping up, particularly since the end of the year."
The county commission voted Tuesday to hire 23 full-time and four part-time
positions for the department, which already has more than 230 employees.
Gibbs
said she has noticed that materials shortages are sometimes disrupting builders'
construction schedules. "We've had some people calling for inspections that
aren't really ready" by the time the inspector arrives because things such
as concrete sometimes can't be purchased when needed.
Housing
market among hottest
Lee-Charlotte
cities ranked ninth
By
Dick Hogan
Published
on February 16, 2005
Southwest Florida once again is near the top of a national list of hot real
estate markets.
In statistics released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors, the Fort
Myers/Cape Coral/Punta Gorda area was ninth and Sarasota was 10th for the
increase from the fourth quarter of 2003 to the fourth quarter of 2004 for
single-family homes sold.
"I think the price is driven by the demand, by the increasing population
coming this direction" in Southwest Florida, said Fiona Finn of The Finn
Team Realty in Fort Myers. "A lot of the baby boomers are coming a few
years before they retire; they want to buy at today's prices."
In
statistics released Tuesday by the Florida Association of Realtors, Lee County's
median price increased 27 percent to $205,000 in the fourth quarter and Naples
increased 17 percent to $360,700, the highest in the state.
Around the country a record number of metropolitan areas — 62 out of 129 —
experienced double-digit home-price gains between the fourth quarter of 2003 and
the fourth quarter of 2004. The previous record was set during the second
quarter when 49 metros were up 10 percent or more.
The
national median price for existing homes in the fourth quarter was $187,500,
according to NAR, an 8.8 percent increase from last year.
"With more buyers than sellers nationally, what we're seeing is a natural
pressure on home prices as buyers compete to bid on available properties,"
said NAR chief economist David Lereah. "Fortunately, the historically low
cost of debt service on a home purchase means that we have a comfortable buffer
in most of the country because the typical family can afford to buy a home well
above the median price."
Las Vegas topped the list as the market with the greatest appreciation over the
past 12 months, with a 47.3 percent gain. In San Bernardino and Riverside
counties in California, prices were up 34.7 percent.
But Florida is stealing some of the limelight from California. Six of the top 10
markets for the fourth quarter were in the Sunshine State. Prices in West Palm
Beach and Boca Raton increased 34 percent over the past year, while in Bradenton
they were up 32 percent.
"The
boomers are in their peak earning years, buying second homes and retiring to
Florida," Lereah said. "We're seeing a lot of development and a lot of
building but demand is greater than supply."
Not everyone got rich on real estate in 2004. Homeowners in Atlanta, Chicago and
Denver saw average gains of 3 percent, 2.7 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
Prices in four cities, including Austin, Texas, and Indianapolis, fell during
the past year.
"In the handful of areas with price declines, none had previously
experienced rapid price growth," Lereah said. "In fact, they were all
lower-cost areas experiencing one or both of the conditions necessary for
temporary price softness — local economic weakness, mainly in jobs, or a large
supply of homes available in the local market."
— CNN Money contributed to this report
Lee
home prices surge again
By
Dick Hogan
Published
on March 24, 2005
Home prices soared again last month in Lee County — led by a frenzy of bargain
hunters and investors in Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral.
Meanwhile, U.S. sales of previously owned homes fell less than forecast in
February to a 6.79 million annual rate, supported by cheap mortgage rates and
growing employment, an industry report showed Wednesday.
In Lee County, the median price of a single-family home sold by a Realtor hit a
record $235,200, up 37 percent in a year. The number of homes sold increased 19
percent to 890, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The
median is the price at which half the sales are higher and half are lower.
Nowhere was the increase more pronounced than in Lehigh Acres, where Coldwell
Banker Preferred Properties general manager Fred Elliott said the skyrocketing
price of land was driving the boom.
"Lot prices have increased 20-fold in the last two years," he said,
and most quarter-acre lots go for at least $40,000.
