Real Estate

High association fees, constant assessments and strict state policies are some of the reasons Southwest Floridians are putting condo’s up for sale at a record pace.

The industry group Florida Realtors last week released a report that showed the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in March was $412,500. The Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island SMSA again leads the state with a median home price of $800,000.A median home price is the middle value in a collection of home sales prices with half the homes selling at a lower price and half higher. This is how the typical home price in a given area or market is calculated, giving a better representation than the average price, which can be skewed by extreme values.

Governor Ron DeSantis wants to eliminate property taxes? But is this a practical endeavor? would the removal of this revenue source increase sales taesx or even the introduce an income tax.

A company headquartered in Hong Kong has bought a piece of property at the Edison Mall in Fort Myers. That property includes the closed Sears store, which used to be a popular shopping spot. A Fort Myers council member said the Sears may be torn down to make way for multi-family housing.

NAREB, Home ownership, Black wealth, Fort Myers, Southwest Florida, Fair Housing Act

Local real estate agents are scrambling to figure out the effect on them of the National Association of Realtors’ anti-trust settlement last week to pay $418 million in damages and eliminate some rules dealing with commissions.A judge still has to approve the settlement. The new rules will take effect in July, if approved.

Between COVID19 and Hurricane Ian, the Southwest Florida commercial real estate market has seen very erratic the last few years. Southwest Florida Business Today Publisher Karen Moore takes a look at the most recent trends.

Of the top five spots, the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island area reported a median home price of $810,000; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was at $610,000; North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton was at $513,000; Cape Coral-Fort Myers reported in at $445,000, and the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin was at $441,500.

For 10 years, Skyplex at the regional airport in Fort Myers has been heralded as a commercial zone that would change the region. To date, only a few office buildings by major players have been built there. Karen Moore reports on the latest updates provided by the head of commercial real estate firm Cushman Wakefield.

Karen Moore, publisher of Southwest Florida Business Today, attended an economic summit recently and heard from Matt Simmons, managing partner of Maxwell, Hendry and Simmons, a local real estate appraisal firm. He shared his views on how Lee County is responding to the economic impact after Hurricane Ian.