real estate | local news | economy

Southwest Florida single-family homes topped the state in price growth in July, but town houses and condos showed more lackluster increases, a new report shows.

Median single-family home prices in the Naples-Marco Island metro area rose 23.1 percent in July over the year, to $400,000 from $325,000, according to a monthly report by Florida Realtors.

That put it first out of 20 metro areas the Orlando-based trade group tracks.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers came in second in the state. Single-family home prices were up 17.2 percent, to $210,900 from $179,900.

Both metro areas handily beat statewide single-family price growth of 8.1 percent, to $199,900 from $185,000.

Naples real estate broker John Steinwand said part of the reason prices have grown so fast is that buyers are want to avoid expected increases in mortgage interest rates.

They also want to snag a vacation home in the offseason and “prove the myth that you can visit Naples in hot, steamy weather and save money,” he said.

But piece growth has abated in Southwest Florida’s multifamily homes, which saw big year-over-year increases in June.

Town houses and condo median prices rose only 4.3 percent in Naples-Marco Island, to $245,000 from $235,000, and 6 percent, to $169,500 from $159,950 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers.

That put both metro areas low on the list for multifamily price growth in Florida: Naples-Marco Island ranked 14th, and Cape Coral-Fort Myers ranked 11th.

Statewide, multifamily median prices hit $150,000, up 9.1 percent from $137,500 a year earlier.

John Tuccillo, chief economist for the trade group, said in the report that the state’s real estate market continues to “boom along,” but that “tight inventories are beginning to get worrisome, even in price tiers where they had not been a problem.”

Statewide, there was a 4.5 month’s supply of single-family homes in July, and a 5.3 month’s supply for town houses and condos. A 6-month supply is considered a benchmark for a balanced market, Florida Realtors said.

That’s helped Florida sellers get prices closer to their asking price.

In July, sellers of single-family homes in Florida got 94.4 percent of their original asking price, an increase of 1.2 percent from July 2014, when they received 93.3 percent. Town house and condo sellers got 93.3 percent compared to 92.6 percent a year earlier, an uptick of 0.8 percent.

The report noted that July was the 44th consecutive month that median sales prices increased year-over-year for both single-family and multifamily homes statewide.

“But we’re not in any danger of a runaway market because mortgages are still difficult to get for most households, keeping demand down,” Tuccillo said in the report.