The number of foreclosed homes coming back on the market for resale by lenders in Lee County was down sharply as 2011 closed while housing prices rose — good news for builders hoping to be competitive in price with existing homes.
A glut of foreclosed homes following the implosion of the real estate market in 2006 pushed prices down sharply for existing homes. Builders found themselves unable to compete with the low prices and the number of houses being built went from more than a thousand in 2005 to about 100 at present.
In December, 23 permits were issued in Cape Coral, six in the unincorporated county, three in Sanibel and 10 in Bonita Springs. Numbers weren’t available Tuesday from Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach.
Meanwhile, the median price of an existing home in the county with the assistance of a Realtor was up as the year ended: $106,300 in November, up 20 percent from $88,500 a year earlier.
From modest homes to mansions, prices inched up enough to make the price of new construction roughly equal to that of an existing home, said Jeff Tumbarello, director of the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investment Association, which issued a report Tuesday on the 2011 foreclosure and real estate market.
“Go try to buy a million-dollar house and see what it costs to buy a lot and put the same house on it,” he said. “It’s almost the same.”
The number of foreclosure lawsuits filed actually bumped up in 2011: there were 586 filed in December compared to 423 a year earlier.
But fewer foreclosures were resulting in actual judgments followed by public auction sales: there were only 293 in December compared to 582 a year earlier.
That was a result of a slowdown in the judicial system’s handling of foreclosures as the so-called “Rocket Docket” — a speeded-up procedure for pushing those cases through the courts — came to an end mid-year, Tumbarello said.
William Noah of Re/Max Hometown Properties, which is representing developer Pasquale Franchi’s Casa di Fiori condominium project in Cape Coral, said both investors and prospective homeowners are interested in the project, which has 52 units already built and ready for sale plus land for another 152 yet to be built.
By next week he hopes to have permission from the state Department of Condominiums to start marketing the condos, which will go for $115,000 to $125,000 — about half the price in 2005 when the project was started as Island Pines of Cape Coral.
One big advantage Franchi has is that he’s offering seller financing to buyers with 10 percent down: banks typically won’t look at a condo mortgage for less than 20 percent down, Noah said.
Dennis Cantwell, president of Sand Springs Development in Estero and also president of the Lee Building Industry Association, said the difficulty in getting bank financing is a major problem in the home-building industry these days but that he’s seeing signs of a recovery. He’s been relying on remodeling for work but now has a house under construction for the first time in two years.
Caitlin Hustrulid, director of members services and events for the association, said the group’s Parade of Homes will have at least 41 homes as it showcases the area’s new home construction the first three weekends in February.
That’s up from 32 last year and a far cry from the event’s low point of 12 houses in 2010, she said. “A lot of people who have participated in the past are jumping in and doing it again, a lot of smaller custom home builders.”
By news press
Cape Coral Florida
Provided by CapeCoralRealEstate
