Last week’s blog entry summarized important market statistics in Naples real estate. Over the past week, local business news has highlighted the overall upswing in the Naples area economy. Most especially, tourism, local spending, and airport traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport are trending upward. Great news for the local economy and for the Naples community at large!
First, the Business Observer highlighted Naples real estate on January 20, 2014:
The median price of an existing single-family home in Naples rose 37% in December to $340,000 compared to the same month one year ago, further evidence of the recovery in housing.
As home prices surged and inventory of homes for sale declined, the number of sales of existing single-family homes fell 25% to 301 in December compared with December 2012, according to the Naples Area Board of Realtors.
“This report indicates a tremendous market shift from home sales in the under-$300,000 category to home sales in the over-$300,000 categories,” says Bill Coffey, broker manager of Amerivest Realty Naples, in a statement. “Sales over $300,000 now drive the market.”
Meanwhile, existing condominiums exhibited a similar trend. The median price of an existing condo rose 19% to $215,000 in December compared with the same month in 2012. The number of sales of existing condos fell 25% to 306 in the same period, the association reports.
Next, from the Business Observer on January 21, 2014:
Passenger traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport rose to a record
735,739 people in December, breaking the three-decade record for the month.
“December 2013 was the best December in the 30-year history of the airport and our performance for the year was the best since 2007,” says Robert Ball, executive director of the Lee County Port Authority, in a statement. For the year 2013, passenger traffic through the Fort Myers airport rose 3.9% to 7.6 million people compared with 2012.
The last December record for passenger traffic in Fort Myers was in 2006, when 725,909 passengers passed through the airport. The airport’s best year also was in 2006, when just more than 8 million passengers passed through the airport.
“In addition, international traffic had a significant increase of nearly 12% in 2013 compared to 2012,” Ball added in the statement.
In December, Delta carried the most passengers, followed by AirTran, JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit. Airport officials say airlines have added service to Fort Myers to accommodate increasing demand.
And finally, from today’s Naples Daily News, writer Laura Layden puts tourism and local spending in the spotlight, in her article “Tourism is Flying High in Collier County,” excerpted below:
(Collier) County saw nearly 1.67 million visitors staying in hotels and other vacation rentals last year, up 6.1 percent from 2012, according to a report by Tampa-based Research Data Services Inc.
“These are heads in beds,” said the firm’s president, Walter Klages, at a Collier Tourist Development Council meeting Monday. “It’s a 6-plus percent growth rate. These numbers are just extraordinary.”
Tourism spending also soared in 2013, growing more than 12 percent over the year, to more than $1.6 billion.
The biggest percentage increases came in the final three months of the year. Visitor numbers grew 10.6 percent to 412,700, while spending rose 17.3 percent to more than $377 million year-over-year in the fourth quarter.
With an early start to season, occupancy climbed in December, with visitor numbers rising 9.5 percent and spending increasing 16.1 percent in a comparison with a year earlier.
“It was an exceptional year, both in terms of occupancy and customer spending in the marketplace. Everyone felt the impact of the collective positive swing in the economies that affect Naples, and the customer segments that affect Naples,” said Bruce Seigel, director of sales and marketing for the Ritz-Carlton Resorts of Naples.
Canadian visitation rose 11.9 percent, reflecting in part a smaller market (46,921 visitors). The European market grew 5.7 percent, with 254,268 visitors coming this way.
Last year, visitors booked nearly 2.4 million room nights in the county, up 4.7 percent from 2012. The annual occupancy rate rose 5.2 percent to 72.5 percent, with the average daily rate up more than 6 percent — at $176.20.
In the final months of last year, the LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples had a strong showing of European visitors, helping to make it one of the strongest fourth quarters ever, LaPlaya general manager Ron Vuy said.
Likewise…demand at Naples’ two Ritz-Carltons remains strong. “We think 2014 is going to be even greater,” he said. “We’re in the middle of season right now and it is stronger than last year.”
All of these indicators work together and point to a vibrant economy, a vibrant community, and a vibrant place to live!
