Luxury home sales in region up nearly 100%

Mike Hughes doesn’t want to appear like he’s bragging about the sales frenzy going on within his office and the greater Southwest Florida residential real estate market. “It feels weird to talk about,” says Hughes, vice president and general manager of Downing-Frye Realty in Naples, “because so many industries are struggling right now.”

But not residential real estate. Closings at Downing-Frye, for example, rose 71% year-over-year in June and July over 2019, Hughes says, which mirrors the overall Naples market. Closed sales across Naples increased 35.4% in July over July 2019, and pending sales are up 57.3%, according to a report from the Naples Area Board Of Realtors. “In April, if you had asked me how the summer was going to be, I would’ve said very soft,” Hughes says. “And the exact opposite has happened.”