Closed Sales Mixed, Sale Prices Up in 2017

(Fort Myers, FL – February 14, 2018) – In a year that saw the housing market disrupted by a major hurricane, Lee County statistics for 2017 were mixed. For the most part, however, nothing was drastically different than what we saw in 2016.

Closed Sales statistics were mixed year-over-year. Single Family Homes saw a drop of 1.5%, while Condos were up 6.5%. In both categories, Median Sale Prices were up: Single Family Homes went from $227,400 to $243,500 (+7.1%) and Condos went from $181,000 to $185,000 (+2.2%)

North Fort Myers had the biggest drop in the number of Closed Sales in 2017 – down 13.8%. Cape Coral and Sanibel/Captiva were the only places that saw more Closed Sales than in 2016.

The number of active listings in 2017 only saw slight changes as well. There were 5,305 Single Family listings, compared to 5,463 in 2016 (a change of -2.9%). There were 3,271 active Condo listings, up 0.4% from 3,259 in 2016.

The biggest change in all of the statistics was Median Time to Contract for Single Family Homes. In 2017, it was 66 days, and in 2016 it was 56 days – a jump of nearly 18% year-over-year.

There were major drops in the number of Single Family Homes sold in the 3 lowest price ranges – Under $50,000, $50,00-$99,999, and $100,000-$149,999. The biggest increases were in the $200,000-$249,999 range, and the $400,000-$599,999 range.

Across the entire state, the housing market finished 2017 with more sales, higher median sale prices, and a drop in the number of distressed property sales compared to 2016.