Back from the dead

Our friends at Metrostudy couldn't resist the Halloween analogy in their latest report on the housing market in Lee and Collier counties.

“Forget Halloween: the Naples-Fort Myers market is back from the dead,” reads the latest report by the firm that tracks new-home sales in master-planned residential communities.

New-home construction in the Lee-Collier market is up 23.7% and there's just a two-and-a-half-month supply of finished vacant homes in subdivisions.

Metrostudy says the price of lots in the best locations cost twice what they did a few years ago and lots in “B” locations are getting multiple bids. With limited supply and higher demand, that's pushing builders to raise prices.

“The one headwind that we are still facing is anemic job growth,” writes Brad Hunter, national director of consulting for Metrostudy. “This presents a particular challenge to the first-time homebuyers, who are also hampered by onerous demands for documentation in order to get mortgage approval, difficulty with down payments, black marks on their credit, and, for the youngest of them, massive student loan debt.”

Move-up buyers who are employed and have good credit are taking advantage of low interest rates and pushing demand for new homes in Lee and Collier counties. They've lost interest in buying foreclosures, Metrostudy says.

Retirees are returning to the market too. They're using cash to buy homes.