April saw an increase in housing values in Naples.

Naples, Fla – The Naples real estate market enjoyed another month of increased home values driven mainly by another month of below typical inventory levels. According to a recent article from NABOR from the area’s top real estate brokers, resale home inventory in Naples this year will unlikely spike to levels we enjoyed before the pandemic. However, since 2019, the number of new listings each month has remained fairly consistent, with most months enjoying an average of between 1,100 and 1,300 new listings. According to the April 2023 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), overall inventory increased 64.4 percent in April to 2,868 homes for sale from 1,745 homes for sale in April 2022.

Interest rates are a factor that is currently slowing down home sales, according to Mike Hughes, vice president and general manager of Downing-Frye Realty, Inc. “Even though the majority of our Naples sales are cash deals, many buyers who own a home up north and want to buy a home in Naples are having a hard time selling their northern home because the pool of potential buyers that can afford a mortgage at today’s rates is small,” Hughes said.

Interest rates may also have an impact on Naples home buyers who currently have low mortgage interest rates. In April, there were 1,116 fewer new postings than there were in April 2022 (1,488 less listings). Although the value of many homes in Naples has increased by double since 2019, this has given sellers a tidy profit to put toward their subsequent home purchases. These sellers can reduce the amount of debt on their next home’s mortgage with a sizable down payment, making monthly payments manageable even with a higher interest rate.Intriguingly, and in accordance with Cindy Carroll of Carroll & Carroll Appraisers & Consultants, LLC, months of inventory are declining in communities off the water and east of I-75; this is a clear indication that residing close to the beach is not always a prerequisite for homeownership in Naples. “Port Royal had 1.3 years’ worth of merchandise in January 2019, and it still does. Carroll went on to say that in some locations east of Collier Boulevard (SR 951), there is fewer than four months of inventory. However, in January 2019, the Vineyards had 10 months of inventory; today, it has less than a month.Due to this year’s modest inventory increases, pending and closed sales activity slowed down a little bit in April compared to March. In April, closed sales dropped by 24.2% to 947 closed sales from 1,250 closed sales in April 2022, while pending sales fell by 18.4% to 1,123 pending sales from 1,377 pending sales.Hughes said that although the April report showed there were 1,128 price drops in that month, “some price negotiating is happening, though low ball offers are not a good strategy in today’s tight inventory market.”

The survey also revealed that the neighborhood’s median closing price is no longer growing by double digits every month. From $800,000 in April 2022 to $825,000 in April 2019, the median closing price for single-family homes climbed by 3.1 percent. However, the situation is different in the condominium market, where the median closing price climbed by 14.3% from April 2022 to April 2019, going from $460,000 to $526,000.

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