May 2023 | SWFL Home Prices & Buyer Demand Holding Strong

Post published:May 26, 2023
Reading time:3 mins read

With the average 30-year mortgage rate holding steady around 7%, the question we keep getting is, “how is this effecting the housing market in Southwest Florida?” In short, higher rates have slowed things down to a more buyer-friendly pace, but SWFL home prices and demand are still strong. Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on:

Median Days On Market

As interest rates began trending upward, days on market followed suit as expected. The question was, how would days on market (a great indicator of demand) respond to these higher mortgage rates over a prolonged period of time?

Although rates have been hovering above 7% for several months now, the median days on market in Southwest Florida is holding steady at under 25 days. To put this into perspective, before the 2021 boom, when mortgage rates were under 3% on average, days on market here in Southwest Florida was consistently around 55 days. Our lack of inventory is helping to keep days on market down even while interest rates rise. Here are the current median days on market by city as of May 26th, 2023:

Bonita Springs: 19 Days On Market
Naples: 28 Days On Market
Estero: 17 Days On Market
Fort Myers: 18 Days On Market

SWFL Home Prices

Home prices in Southwest Florida have not only held strong through the interest rate changes, they’ve actually trended upward over the past 3 months. The current, median sale price in SWFL is $460,000, up about 3.5% from March 2023.

In terms of median sale prices, the 2022 spring buying season was a record-setter in our area, and we’re on track to beat, or at least tie, those numbers this year. Here’s a breakdown of the median sale prices by city as of May 2023 (first number) compared with May 2022 (second number):

Bonita Springs: $595,000 | $641,000
Naples: $625,000 | $625,000
Estero: $542,000 | $526,500
Fort Myers: $388,000 | $370,000

Forecast

We expect that, as interest rates begin to come back down, the SWFL housing market will stay strong. Lower rates would ramp up demand even more, but inventory would rise as sellers that are currently locked into super low interest rates begin feeling more comfortable trading for a slightly higher rate. This should keep the SWFL housing market on it’s same, healthy trajectory as mortgage rates begin to fall.