2006 has seen the Real estate market change nation wide as well as the Florida Keys. Boosted by the media, the real estate boom has finally reached the time for a correction. Upper Keys residential property showed a modest increase in home appreciation for the first 3 quarters of 2006. The 80/20 Rule of real estate has been stronger than ever in 2006, with the stats coming in that 25% of the Realtors in the Florida Keys controled 81% market. Of the 25% top agents in the Keys, 32% of those agents work for Coldwell Banker Schmitt and Misty and I happen to be among the productive few.
From our experiences this year, we also did feel the market slowdown some. Our sales so far have been 1/2 of the $42 million that we sold in 2005, but are equal to our production in 2004 which we considered to be a record year for us at the time.
Real Estate has and is still selling here in the Keys, and sellers are still showing good profits from the sales. This is masked by the tremendous amount of inventory that is on the market. I do not see this as a buyers market as most people think. Yes buyers have more choices, but they have not yet controlled the pricing. Yes there have, and will be a lot of good deals around, more than we have seen in the last 18 months. This is due to prices settling at rest and basic values coming back into play. Inferior properties are no longer going to get top dollar.
Our real estate forecast looks good, insurance rates are scheduled for a 27% decrease, interest rates are still reasonably low, the storm season returned to normal and we still have the largest and only Coral reef system in the Continental United States.
