Our nation has been experiencing a one-day-at-a-time economic recovery, punctuated by fits and starts. Finally, however, the good news is consistently outweighing the bad; allowing for a sustained measure of confidence to seep back into our battered psyches. In fact, consumer confidence across the U.S. rose in January to the highest level since September 2008 as new signs of recovery caused Americans to feel more optimistic about their immediate futures. Florida’s consumer confidence index also rose unexpectedly in January—by five points, to 74—with the biggest jump being in the perception of whether it is a good time to buy big-ticket consumer items.
For sure, confidence has at long last trumped fear and trepidation with respect to our local housing market. The months-long buying binge in the price tiers below $400,000 is showing no signs of letting up; especially as season revs into high gear and buyers continue to compete for pared-down inventories of lower-priced properties.
This should come as welcome news to everyone—including pundits, prognosticators and seasoned market watchers—who believes a recovery in the housing and labor markets are the essential ingredients for restoring our nation’s overall economic health. Moreover, while virtually every housing market in Florida continues to grapple with the twin hurdles of high unemployment and record foreclosures, Southwest Florida’s has been on a solid trend toward recovery and price stability for the better part of the last six months in spite of these serious and ongoing obstacles.
While the U.S. experienced a 16.7 percent dip in existing home sales between November and December of last year—the largest such monthly decline in more than 40 years—Sarasota-Manatee veered hard in the opposite direction; notching a 43 percent increase in existing home sales; while Charlotte County posted an equally impressive 42 percent increase. Furthermore, while December’s decline in national sales was largely attributed to buyer belief that time had run out on the first time home buyers tax credit, that perception did nothing to put the brakes on sales in Southwest Florida. In fact, the last time our region saw a monthly decline approaching 17 percent in unit sales of existing homes was between July and August of last year. Since then, sales and pendings have shown nothing but consistent improvement.
