The Southwestern Florida housing market, which has been heating up over the last three years or so, is projected to be hotter than ever this summer.
According to the Naples Daily News, a Local Market Monitor study has revealed that the Naples-Marco Island housing market will see the highest cumulative gain in one-to-four-family home prices — an amazing 41% — over the next three years, a higher gain than any other metropolitan area in Florida.
That’s a major rise from original forecasts, which only eyed a 29% rise in home prices throughout the region.
“That’s a big increase,” said Ingo Winzer, Local Market Monitor’s president and founder, which tracks 315 markets nationwide. “You’re looking at a real phenomenon.”
The area’s real estate market is seeing such a positive outlook thanks to a combination of boosted job growth, a relative shortage of available homes for sale and a lack of foreclosed homes on the market.
“There’s been a surge in demand of people who aren’t just visiting but want to live full-time in Naples,” Winzer explained. “I think it will continue.”
Home buyers typically look for a few common features in the house they end up purchasing. Across the country, a little more than half — 53% — of home buyers prefer to look at homes that have a two-car garage. This is the case throughout much of Florida, which is the retirement paradise for people all across the country.
This is also true for current Chicago residents Joanna and Thomas Wala, who recently bought a three-bedroom home in Bonita Springs. The couple, still in their 40s, plan to rent their new home out and earn a small profit until they retire.
“Moving here now was out of the question,” Joanna, an accountant, told the Naples Daily News. “But I did the calculations, and buying just made so much sense. We have something that’s worth something, and its value is growing.”
