Southwest Florida is a great place to call home and an even greater place to invest in property, especially land.  The area was hit hard by the housing market crash of 2008, but over the past five years has seen a major resurgence in the real estate market.  April 2013 sales numbers were recently released and indicate that 2013 will continue to be a strong year for the market in the SWFL region including Cape Coral and Ft. Myers.

The median sale price rose 29.8% over last year from $140,199 to $182,000 this year.  The average sale price rose 23.1% from $237,281 last April to $292,201 this year.  Prices have definitely risen this season; however they typically do this time of year.  We are comparing numbers of last year at same time, so it’s a legitimate 30% increase over last year.

April 2013 prices are up over March numbers which is also typical.  April’s $182,000 was up over March’s $168,000.  As we move forward in the year, we’ll have to watch as last year prices hit their plateau before steadying out the rest of the year.

When prices are rising people automatically assume it’s across the board and they can add 30% to last year’s home value regardless of what price range their home is in.  This simply is not true, although we have seen increased sales in almost every category.  The over $1 Million category continues to struggle.  The SWFL real estate market is on the rise, but the overall economy may be holding back super premium prices combined with excess inventory in the $ 1Million+ category.  We hope to see continued economic growth with added jobs from Hertz moving to the region and other large, national firms expected to follow suit.