Naples Real Estate Market Review

Since the March 2024 Naples Housing Market Update received an increased amount of readership and appreciation, especially the cover art, I thought to myself, “Self, let’s continue with this creativity and find something uniquely Naples to photograph and use for a ‘Special Report on Zip Code 34102’ for the readers of the Naples Housing Market Update”. This is how I ended up at Naples City Hall for a photo shoot of the new Naples pier model that is sitting upstairs under an aerial photo of Naples in 1950. As I stared at this aerial photo of 1950 Old Naples, I realized I was shaking my head in disbelief at how much has changed not only in this town, but the world, since 1950. I’m only 42, but the one thing that makes me feel old is when I see a building go up in a spot that I remember used to be just a vacant field. For the older folks, it may be after the building gets torn down and the parcel becomes a vacant field, yet again. I can’t imagine Naples ever being like it was in 1950 again. Just look at these numbers below for the Overall Naples Market, ZIP 34102 & 34103, and finally Golden Gate Estates.

34102 Special Report | April 2024 Housing Market Update

For April 2024, the Overall Naples Market fell pretty much flat from March 2024 where we only gained $100 in Median Sales Price. We are 4% higher than April 2023 and technically at a new All-Time High for Median Sales Price. ZIP 34102 is covered in detail in the Special Report but I wanted to include it in the charts to compare to ZIP 34103 (Moorings & Park Shore). The Median Sales Price in 34103 has been slipping since it’s peak in October 2022 at $2,600,000. We may be seeing prices stabilize as there have been 4 consecutive months of $1,200,000 Median Sales Price or higher. Overall, that ZIP code’s prices are sluggish, though Total Sales are up 10.9% over April 2023. 34102 has done much better on Median Sales Price, thanks to strong Single Family Home prices. Condos prices seem to have been levelling out and even declining. Again, this concept is covered in the 34102 Special Report.

Golden Gate Estates (both 34117 & 34120) are kicking butt. With prices up 15.3% over April 2023, we can really see the results of the lower Months of Supply (5.4 Months) and Days on Market (47), which are both lower than 34102, 34103 & the Overall Naples Market. I saw a report that Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island area is again leading in job growth in Florida. Remember, 1000 people per day are STILL moving to Florida. I imagine most of those people are sticking rather than getting scared and running back to their departure state. For the newbies, these sales graphs go back 9-13 years so the illustration can be made that the statistics in categories such as New listings, Inventory, Pending Sales, Total Sales and Days on Market are all looking pretty normal compared to pre-covid years that started in Feb 2022. Heck, even Months of Supply for the Overall Naples Market were higher in Feb 2016 – June 2019 than they are now, and that was during a really healthy sellers market.

Naples Area Median Sales Price | April 2024

Most of the new listings in April 2024 occurred in Golden Gate Estates and a good deal of them are brand new. Out of the current 581 New Listings (as of 5.11.2024) in 34117 & 34120, 67 of them were built in 2023 and 110 of them built in 2024. You can probably safely bet that few, if any, of these new builds are being built in place of an old home that was torn down. No, many of these homes are being built on vacant, raw land. Maybe a contributing factor to the increased bobcat sightings, among other animals, in neighborhoods all around Naples. Not all land in Golden Gate Estates can just be built on. For land that is not protected, a wetland determination report needs to be in hand prior to getting a building permit and if there are any wetlands, you need permission to mitigate and the cost could be substantial. Make sure you see that DEP report when getting into contract on one of those new homes.

Naples Area New Listings | April 2024

Days on Market is a big indicator and leverage point for agents and buyers wanting to tilt as much as they can to their side in a deal. In April 2024, Overall Naples Market was at 39 days Median Days on Market. This is compared to 5 days in April 2022 when we were at the tail end of the unicorn years. Before I get crucified for suggesting that the public needs to calm down regarding the housing market, I would like to bring in exhibit A . The below Days on Market graph shows a whopping Median Days on Market of between 101 Days & 124 Days between Jan 2011 & Aug 2013 during time we were coming out of the Great Recession. September 2013, the Days on Market dropped to 68, which is where it would be up around again during June of 2017 – early 2020 after settling for a few years around 40. My point is, we are still at a pretty low Days on Market and at the average mortgage rate percentage going back 90 years. Buyers are buying, mortgage applications are stabilizing and New Listings are humming along. Most people list their homes only to go buy something else.

Naples Area Day on Market | April 2024

I lifted the below graph from Realtor.com as I really like how this shows National Active Listings over the last 7 years and is current to April 2024. The years 2017, 2018, 2019 were all very similar with inventory, until half way into 2020. Inventory continued to suffer until mid-2022 when mortgage interest rates started climbing. Rates doubled over 6-months in 2022, which has never happened before in this country. Of course people got freaked out! 2021 and 2023 saw inventory continue to rise and here we are in 2024, still about 63.4% short of the inventory we had in 2017, which was still too few. Remember that sellers market of the 2010’s? I was there. 2017 was actually a record breaking year for me. I remember my company at the time gave me an award and put me up in the Wynn in Vegas, all paid for. Ahhh, those were the days.