The U.S. housing market faced its share of challenges in 2023.
Among the biggest challenges: Higher interest and insurance rates, and inflation. Not surprisingly, the Naples market saw an impact.
A year-end report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors that tracks resales in Collier County, excluding Marco Island, tells a big part of the story.
Here's a look at some of the statistics for 2023, in comparison to 2022:
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The total number of sales fell 13.6% to 8,816.
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The inventory of homes rose by 45.9% to 3,949 at year end.
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The average number of days on market increased by 100% to 54.
Another telling sign of a cooling market: On average, sellers received 96.2%of their list price at sale in 2023, down 2.8% from the previous year, when there was more competition among buyers.
Local brokers also believe more personal travel in 2023 dampened sales. With Americans feeling less fearful about getting COVID-19, they're traveling in force again, so it's absorbing more of their time and money.
Overall, the median sales price increased 4.3% to $600,000 in the Naples area last year. Condo prices rose 6.6%, but single-family home prices dropped 0.7% over the year.
The median is the point at which half of the homes sell for more, and half for less.
The number of homes sold in the over $1.5 million to $5 million range declined 4.1% to 1,148.
Meanwhile, homes sold in the $300,000 and below segment fell by more than 29% to 774, not for a lack of demand, but of supply.
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With much of the less expensive housing found in the Immokalee/Ave Maria area, out east, it's the only geographic area that saw an increase in single-family home sales in the market overall. Sales were up by 34.1% over the year.
On the flip side, to the west there was a 24.8% decrease in sales nearest to the beach, where homes tend to sell for a premium.
“Migration is booming in eastern Collier County,” said Cindy Carroll, with Carroll & Carroll Appraisers & Consultants LLC. She described it as one of the “last vestiges of affordable housing in our county."
Commenting on the year-end report, Adam Vellano, a managing director for Compass Florida in Southwest Florida, said, “One big reason we didn’t outperform last year’s sales is because buyers who had plans to eventually relocate to Florida moved up their timeline. The pandemic convinced a lot of people to buy sooner, so the high sales numbers we enjoyed in 2021 and 2022 were stolen sales from what would have taken place in 2023.”