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Keys housing market shows signs of recovery

Keys housing market shows signs of recovery

Jul 22, 2011 (Florida Keys Keynoter - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- After a year of fits and starts, real estate in the Upper Keys appears poised for a comeback -- albeit a slow one.

From Lower Matecumbe Key to Key Largo, brokered home sales between January and June were up 34 percent from 2010, according to statistics from Keyswide realty firm Coldwell Banker Schmitt.

The number of pending residential transactions in the Upper Keys was also up -- to the tune of 52 percent -- buoying agents' hopes that the Keys' slower season won't slow the sales momentum through the third quarter, which started July 1.

"It feels like 2003 again with the phone ringing all day and out showing properties seven days a week," said Margo Newman, a 35-year industry veteran who works with her son, Brett, to sell under the Coldwell Banker Schmitt umbrella.

Of course, today's real estate market has something else in common with 2003 -- the sales prices. Keyswide, the average sales price was $472,000. That's good news for people hoping to buy into this market for the first time, but very bad news for anyone who bought anywhere near the peak and needs to sell.

But after several years of nothing but plummeting prices, slumping sales and escalating numbers of distressed properties, the year-to-date numbers and agent feedback offer some promising indicators.

"The buyers are here. We haven't slowed down at all," said Jaclyn Kelley, president of the Florida Keys Board of Realtors, the industry's trade group in the Upper Keys, and a Realtor with Shoreline Properties, a year-old boutique firm based in the Upper Keys.

Even county officials are adopting an optimistic tone. During a recent public discussion of the county's fiscal outlook, County Administrator Roman Gastesi said he believes property values have bottomed out.

Real estate agents say sales prices haven't reversed course, but particularly sought-after properties are seeing multiple and full-price offers, and the gap between listing and selling prices continues to narrow.

"My feeling is, barring any major change in the marketplace, we are finally seeing a stabilization of our prices, which is actually a movement in the right direction," said Susan Recarey of Marr Properties in Key Largo.

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