Lee County.Prices still on the rise!

Lee County's home market is still sizzling.The median price of an existing home in Lee was $295,400 in November, up 49 percent from the same month a year ago.And sales bounced back in November following disruptions from Hurricane Wilma in October.
Sales were down 52 percent from October 2004 as insurance companies ceased writing policies with Wilma looming. That meant people couldn't close on their homes.Those limited sales may have also skewed October's median price: $322,000.
Nationally, the picture wasn't as bright. Existing home sales fell to an eight-month low in November, leaving the number of homes on the market at the highest level since 1986.Home sales dropped 1.7 percent to a 6.97 million annual rate, according to the National Association of Realtors. Purchases have been slowing since they reached a record pace of 7.35 million in June.Statewide, sales increased 1 percent over the same period last year and the median sales price was $250,500, an increase of 31 percent, according to data released Thursday by the Florida Association of Realtors.
The median is the number that falls in the middle of a list of prices, not the average.In Collier County, sales increased 5 percent, while the median price increased 37 percent to $479,800.
In Lee County, buyers purchased 810 existing homes in November, up 4 percent from November 2004, and more than triple that of October, when 264 homes sold, according to the state association.William Belden, 65, of Rutland, Vt., contributed to the November rebound, purchasing a three-bedroom house in central Cape Coral on Nov. 23.
Belden said he and his wife, Mary, had planned to buy a townhouse or condominium, but then opted for a single-family home."By the time you consider the monthly fees in a condo, a home was a better deal," he said.Belden said he looked for just a week before finding what he was looking for. At $300,000, his home was just above the median price.
While sales picked up from the previous month, buyer traffic was noticeably slower in November than just a few months ago, said Brett Ellis of RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers."We did see a drop-off in buyer volume," Ellis said, adding that Wilma's impact reached into early November and increasing prices and interest rates contributed to the slowing.
If sales cool, the median price might climb even more sharply, Ellis said."As prices increase, the bottom part of the market drops out and that pushes the median price way up."However, he said the sales pace seems to have picked up in December, especially just before Christmas.
"There had been some pent up demand that seems to have entered the market," Ellis said. "I think people saw a respite in the market and decided to make a jump."But sales seem to have fallen off in the lower price ranges, said Beverly Gaymon, an agent with Sellstate Alliance Realty in Fort Myers.
"I have noticed a slowdown, but that isn't that unusual for real estate in this time of year around the holidays," Gaymon said. "Still, if you see something that's out there and it is reasonable, you had better jump on it because it won't be there for long."Nationally, the slowdown puts buyers in the driver's seat, said Thomas Stevens, president of the national association."As more listings of homes come on the market during this period of modestly declining sales, more home buyers will find themselves in a better position to negotiate," Stevens said.
Some analysts said the slow cooling of the housing market is a good sign for the economy, because it avoids a sudden crash."The pullback in the housing market is continuing at an orderly pace," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.