Housing market returns to normal

Here's further evidence Southwest Florida's housing market is returning to normal.

Consider the Fort Myers area, which suffered some of the worst blows from the real estate collapse. Today, a majority of existing-homes sales are traditional between willing sellers and buyers.

Such traditional existing-home sales accounted for 73% of the transactions in August, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach.

Foreclosures represented 17.7% of sales in August and short sales were 9.3%.

Two years ago, it was a different story. In August 2011, traditional sales accounted for just 46% of the transactions. Foreclosures and short sales were the majority of sales that summer month. In January 2011, traditional sales were even lower: 34% of the market's transactions.

Most real estate participants agree that foreclosures will continue to be a part of the sales mix, but nowhere near the catastrophic levels during the downturn.