In the Naples area, home resales exceeded new listings in the first quarter.

In the Naples area, home resales exceeded new listings in the first quarter.

That’s one trend emerging from a new quarterly report released Friday by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.

The report is based on sales made through the SunshineMLS, or multiple listing service, in Collier County, excluding Marco Island.

The Realtor board, which has been releasing monthly reports on sales for more than a year, is now generating quarterly reports to show broader trends.

In the first quarter, home listings declined nearly 9 percent. The inventory of homes shrank to 11,211, down from 12,207 in the first quarter of 2008.

Here are some of the other findings for the first quarter of this year:

*Sales for homes under $300,000 saw a 113 percent increase. There were 964, compared to 452 in the first quarter of 2008.

*Single-family home sales under $300,000 increased 242 percent to 510, up from 149 in the first quarter of 2008.

*The median price — the price at which half the homes sell for more and half for less — declined 36 percent to $237,000 for the year ending in March 2009. For the same 12 months a year ago, the median was $370,000.

Over the past year, 5,091 homes have sold in the Naples area. That was 30 percent more than in the previous 12 months, when there were 3,910 home sales.

In the first quarter, 1,335 homes sold, up 33 percent from 1,002 in the same quarter in 2008. North Naples had the most sales at 346. East Naples was second with 322.

“Single-family home sales led the way,” said Brett Brown, president of the Naples Area Board of Realtors and a broker at Downing-Frye Realty.

“We’re outpacing the inventory with closed sales,” he said.

An online real estate listing service called FrontDoor.com recently named Naples the No. 2 bargain home buyer market.

The market continues to be driven by foreclosures and short sales. Buyers are looking for bargains.

While sales more than doubled for homes priced at $300,000 or less in the first quarter, they were down in all other price ranges compared to a year ago.

“That market below $300,000 continues to be on fire and I think it will be for the rest of the year,” said Mike Hughes, a vice president for Downing-Frye.

The stock market tumble has slowed sales above $1 million over the past few months because it had made those heavily invested more cautious about spending money now. However, he noted that median prices do seem to be stabilizing in markets above $300,000.

Low interest rates are helping to drive more sales.

“I think people are concerned about interest rates going up again,” said Michele Harrison, a broker-associate with John R. Wood Realtors.

A year ago, there was a 45-month supply of single-family homes on the market. Now, there’s a 14-month supply, Hughes said.

Realtors are now getting multiple offers for homes priced at under $300,000.

Earlier this week, his company wrote a contract for a home that had four offers on it.

The buyers are mixed. Many are second-home buyers, who only plan to live here a few months out of the year. There are some first-time buyers, who are taking advantage of low interest rates and an $8,000 federal tax credit, and long-term investors.

Downing-Frye has seen many buyers coming from the Northeast and from overseas.

“One thing I’ve learned over the years is Naples has luster,” Hughes said.

John Steinwand, president, CEO and principal broker at Naples Realty Services, said he’s noticed a lot more buyers from Canada. “They’re back,” he said.

Banks and Realtors are getting better at short sales, which is helping to turn more pending sales into actual sales. Short sales are sales made for less than the bank is owed to avoid foreclosure.

“The agents have honed their skills on short sales. They know how to do them now,” said Kathy Zorn, broker-owner and president of Florida Home Realty.

Monthly statistics for March showed sales continue to increase. There were 569 closed single-family and condo sales, up from 411 a year ago.

There were 414 homes sold for less than $300,000 last month, up from 197 a year ago. In every other price category, sales were lower than they were in the same month a year ago.

Pending sales for single-family homes saw nearly a 137 percent increase last month. There were 625, up from 264 in the same month a year ago.

Condo sales increased 11 percent in March to 277, up from 250 a year ago. Pending sales also rose.

The median price for all homes dropped more than 46 percent to $170,000 in March, down from $319,000 a year ago. Source: naplesnews.com

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