Florida Economist's Prediction for Naples Real Estate




On Friday I attended a presentation by Dr. Hank Fishkind, leading Florida economist with 30 years in economic forecasting.  He spoke to a packed audience of realtors at Naples Area Board of Realtors and graphically detailed the effects of the current recession on the local and state real estate market.

He stated that despite many troublesome factors in the overall economy (job losses, lack of consumer confidence, drop in retail sales, loss in home value), ironically, local housing markets here "have bottomed out, and are actually getting better!"  Inventory of new homes has been shrinking rapidly and returning to its equilibrium.  Distressed sales are largely under $ 300,000, but have driven down prices of the higher levels.  The vast majority of the foreclosures, however, have been concentrated in the Golden Gate area.  He predicts that these foreclosures will get worse before they get better.

He refuted Moody's recent report as inaccurate for a second-home market like Naples because it bases its data on a federal index that uses a random sampling of homes sold over the past few years. He feels that his figures are more accurate because they are taken from the Public Records of actual homes sold.

Fishkind said that existing home sales have bounced back and should continue to improve significantly over the next 12 months.  Although these are troubling and confusing times, he believes that "Collier County is now past the worst of the economic housing slowdown."

He predicts that once the economy begins to recover, interest rates will rise and probably go up to 8%.
To learn more about the unique lifestyle that Naples offers, scroll to the bottom of this page and
click "older entries."

For extensive information on Naples Florida, visit www.4NaplesRealEstate.com

Posted by Linda Loomis, Realtor
Naples Real Estate Agent
John R Wood Realtors, Naples FL
Posted by Linda C. Loomis at 2/22/2009 10:39 AM
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: John R. Wood Realtors Naples Fl Naples housing market Naples Fl real estate Hank Fishkind Linda Loomis Naples Florida blog Naples Florida real estate agent Naples Florida Naples Florida real estate
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this post.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name (required)

 Email (will not be published) (required)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.