How much will prices drop?
As housing cools, some may get a new shot to purchase a home.
That's because they have a lot more to choose from and a lot less competitive bidding from fellow house hunters.
There are nearly twice as many listings than a year ago for the Bonita Springs-Estero Realtors group, also known as BER, and the Naples Area Board of Realtors that goes by NABOR. Inventory for the Lee County-based Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association also has risen.
"Demand is still very high," Vanderbilt Realty Broker Dominic Pallini said. "The difference is that today, buyers don’t feel the pressure to buy like they did during the pandemic. They are taking their time to find a home that they feel justifies the price.”
Report:Home prices climb in SWFL, Fort Myers 3rd most overvalued in nation
In the Know first began documenting the start of a home buying frenzy in early summer 2020 that lasted through earlier this year.
A NABOR analysis tabbed it "pandemic pandemonium," “For sellers who were sitting on the fence, it appears they might have missed the pandemic peak,” said Budge Huskey, CEO of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “We are no longer in nirvana."
NABOR, for example, saw its July closed sales plummet to 662 from 1,170 a year ago. Pre-COVID, summer months trended around 800 sales a month for NABOR. In July 2018 and 2019, there were 774 and 829 closed sales, respectively.
'Homes aren’t flying off the shelf'
Analysts have been predicting a slow, gradual return to normalcy.
"If you are a homebuyer, (or) a young person looking to buy a home, you need a bit of a reset," Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. "We need to get back to a place where supply and demand are back together."
Doors would become easier to open in that kind of environment.
“In a balanced housing market, buyers have more opportunities,” said Brenda Fioretti, Naples broker associate at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty. “They might look at five or six homes, maybe take a break for a couple of days, then go look at five or six more. That’s possible in a balanced market because homes aren’t flying off the shelf.”
