Your real estate market is acting a bit tired and grumpy lately (thru 9/23/06), mirroring the condition of markets throughout the country. The last time this happened was in 2001 when unit sales declined by almost 40% and average selling price by almost 10%. The market bounced back the next year and went on to surge in the next four years both in units sold and average selling price. We expect this will happen again after this year of market adjustment, correcting the imbalance between buyer and seller and leading to additional sales growth. As an aside, the sales performance on our islands is a whole lot better than our immediate neighbors. Naples and Punta Gorda saw sales declines that were a good deal greater than ours during the second quarter of this year. This is a tribute to the distinctive qualities of life on our paradise islands and gives reason to why we can expect further growth.       

SINGLE FAMILY HOME ACTIVITY

The single family home market is running behind last year in closed sales (9/23/06) but with 10% higher selling prices. The change in sales is pretty evenly distributed throughout the islands, whether waterfront or inland. Its interesting that the percent of change went up as the average sales price went down, so homes over $1 million showed less change than those under.

CONDO REPORT

The condominium market is also running behind last year in closed sales with 19% higher selling prices. Much like single family homes the higher priced units performed best. While 1 and 2 bedroom units are behind last years sales the 3 bedroom units are selling about 40% faster than last year.  

THE PEOPLE KEEP COMING

We continue to be a popular place for people to go to. The passenger numbers are in for June of this year at the Southwest Florida International Airport and they look good. There were 500,000 passengers who went through the airport and, certainly, a fair number came to these islands. The airport continues to outperform the industry based on numbers released by the Air Traffic Association and that's good news for us. Keep those people flying!