The Naples metro area ranks ninth in the nation in terms of the amount of income needed to afford an existing single-family home, according to the National Association of Realtors.
With a 20 percent down payment, a buyer would need $80,483 to qualify for a loan to buy the median-priced house of $439,900.
President of John R. Wood Properties in Naples, Phil Wood, says “Affordability is a big issue in this area.” As prices have risen steadily during the past three years, “it was very obvious it would be an issue again, just as it was in 2005.” While overall, sellers haven’t been cutting prices, “we’re seeing price reductions from unreasonable prices.”
Meanwhile, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area, a buyer needed only $40,734 to buy a house with a median price of $220,100, NAR said. The metro area is in sync with the median income needed to purchase a house nationally : $40,268 for a home priced at $217,600.
NAR said single-family home prices increased throughout the year in 154 out of 178 metro areas it tracks worldwide. But momentum seems to be slowing : In the first quarter, 51 markets nationwide saw double digit price bump ups; this year, only 28 did.
Southwest Florida no longer belongs to the double digit club : In both Naples and Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro areas, single-family prices increased by 9 percent during the year. Yet both metro areas outpaced the national home price increase of slightly more than 6 percent.
