How Home Sales In Collier County Reached $18.2 Billion Last Year

According to data from the recently released annual report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors (NABOR), the residential real estate throughout Collier County scooped a whopping $18.2 billion in 2020.

Considering that closed volumes increased by a year-over-year turnover of 41% amidst the pandemic, this housing market should continue performing remarkably well through the first half of 2021.

Despite the low mortgage rates, 49.2% of the total closed home sales were cash buyers. This unexpected rate of cash buyers clearly shows that Collier was a hot destination during the pandemic, and most people felt comfortable investing in the local real estate.

A further breakdown highlights that more high-end listings recorded the highest amounts of cash sales throughout the year. Properties priced beyond $2 million had 80% in cash sales, while those priced $1 million and above recorded approximately 73% of cash sales.

An increase in cash sales for any housing market is a good sign as it strengthens the market, making it less susceptible to fizzling out once mortgage rates increases.

The COVID-19 effect

During the first days of the pandemic, most housing markets recorded very little activity, mainly because of the strict lockdown measures. With very little coming into realtors’ funnels, pending sales took a hit throughout Collier County and dropped by 38% in March relative to the records for March 2019.

Things worsened in April, and pending sales declined way further by 54% in its year-over-year turnover. The market then started to show signs of stabilizing in May when pending sales matched records for May 2019.

With the resumption of showings and lockdown lift-off across the nation, home sales started shooting up in June as more people began moving in, primarily from the Northeast cities. As coronavirus continued to influence people’s behavior and psychology of living, many opted to shift to areas with more open space, making Collier a beneficiary of the pandemic.

Despite the 29.4% drop in home sales in the first quarter of 2020, Collier still scored a 19.3% in closed home sales with 12,300 sold properties last year. Compared to 2007’s record of 3,973 closed sales, Collier real estate market played an important role in supporting 2020’s uncertain economy.

Average single-family property trends

Single-family properties had the highest buyers’ interest, helping this housing market get back to its feet in June 2020. Sales for this property segment started to skyrocket upon the removal of stay-at-home orders in Southwest Florida.

A different survey indicated that the extra space in most single-family homes found in Naples increased their buying desire. This new preference is giving home builders sleepless nights as they look for innovative ways to address this need.

According to NABOR, the median home price in Collier last year averaged at $470,000 while that of Lee County ranged around $389,900. The 2019 median home price average in Collier County was $411,000.

With a 41% rise in overall sales volume, analysts conclusively claim that median home prices might keep on increasing at an average rate for most of 2021, as it is more meaningful in such environments.

The average sales price for single-family homes in this housing market last year averaged at $875,984 relative to $751,542 in 2019. This extraordinary increase in annual average sales price accounted for a record-breaking 16% increase in year-over-year turnover.

Naples Beach Area is outlined as one of the biggest gainers of this unprecedented housing demand, recording at least a 27.1% increase in high-end single-family home sales.

The overall sales for properties priced $2 million-plus took the market by storm and recorded an annual increase of 62.4% throughout Collier, with most sales occurring during the remaining six months of 2020.

This explosion of housing market activities also occurred throughout Southwest Florida, resulting in a 142% rise in sales for homes priced $1 million and above.

The last word – supply

One lasting effect of the pandemic is that most real estate markets throughout the nation are still struggling with a lack of inventories. Collier suffered an annual decline of 49% in overall home inventory.

The current stock for single-family properties throughout the county is down by nearly 60%, skewing more sales towards the condominium market. The overall median closed price for condominiums last year averaged at $280,000, while the average price spiked to $490,649 by the end of the year.

Despite suffering a long spell of little to no new listings, overall pending sales throughout Collier shot to 89% by Dec 31. The report further highlights that pending sales for attached units increased by 94% and 84% for single-family properties.