New-home supply dwindles

You'd never know the economy was in a funk judging by new-home statistics in the Fort Myers-Naples area recently published by Metrostudy, a firm that tracks housing markets around the country.

There's just a 2.3-month supply of new vacant homes in the Fort Myers-Naples region's subdivisions, or 354 homes. The supply is tighter in Lee County where there's a 2.1-month supply compared with Collier County, which has a 2.6-month supply.

Builders have started to respond cautiously to the low inventory. Housing starts in the Fort Myers-Naples area rose 16% in the third quarter to 479 homes from a year ago. “This is the highest quarterly starts level in four years, and only the third time that quarterly starts exceeded quarterly move-ins since the third quarter of 2006,” says Brad Hunter, director of Metrostudy's South Florida division.