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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.
Of course, Metrostudy only tracks new homes in subdivisions, and it doesn't account for the thousands of foreclosed homes outside those communities. Hunter says sales of those homes continue to depress the prices for new homes in the area.
Still, the data inside subdivisions is positive despite the fact that there's been no or little net job creation in recent years.
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