Housing Market

The industry group Florida Realtors last week released a report that showed the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in March was $412,500. The Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island SMSA again leads the state with a median home price of $800,000.A median home price is the middle value in a collection of home sales prices with half the homes selling at a lower price and half higher. This is how the typical home price in a given area or market is calculated, giving a better representation than the average price, which can be skewed by extreme values.

The Federal Housing Administration has announced changes to its mortgage eligibility rules that will affect thousands of non-citizens nationwide.

Student housing is limited near the Florida Gulf Coast University campus. Only three designated student housing complexes are in the area, creating an expensive apartment market for college students. With limited on-campus housing, many students struggle to find affordable living options during the school year.

The Coastal Village apartment complex near the FGCU campus in Estero has sold for more than $72 million. A trio of companies are joining up to purchase Coastal Village, long a favorite for FGCU and other students looking to live off-campus.

Pending home sales are falling fastest in the market of Fort Lauderdale, where it’s down 15.2% year over year during the four weeks ending November 10, according to Redfin. Next is Miami (-14%) followed by West Palm Beach (-13.8%).

The Lee Board of County Commissioners voted to commit to a $500,000 dollar loan to support an application for a North Fort Myers affordable housing project Tuesday.Autumn Palm Lee, the company selected by the county for the project, is applying for funding through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. The loan, which is from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, will only be used if this application is accepted.

NAREB, Home ownership, Black wealth, Fort Myers, Southwest Florida, Fair Housing Act

A staggering 64 percent of Collier County public school employees who took part in a survey say they fear they will have to leave their jobs because of lack of affordable housing.

Local real estate agents are scrambling to figure out the effect on them of the National Association of Realtors’ anti-trust settlement last week to pay $418 million in damages and eliminate some rules dealing with commissions.A judge still has to approve the settlement. The new rules will take effect in July, if approved.