Connect Magazine March/April 2018 | Page 9

CCIM- What you missed Mid-Winter Takeaways Every year the CCIM hosts an amazing outlook conference here in SWFL. If you haven’t attended one, make sure to be there next year. Here are a couple of photos of the event. In late January, Association leadership, volunteer members, and Association staff spent several days at the Florida Realtors® Mid-Winter Meetings in Orlando. 2018 TRENDS: • We as humans measure distance differently, it is now measured in minutes. How long will it take me to get to airport. Home searches involve drive time, how long to work, school, shopping, etc. • Businesses find locations for their business by traffic flow and right hand turns. • Household net worth is now at record levels which means the consumer has more spendable income and this translates into an increase in demand for real estate. IRMA’S IMPACT Long-term market impacts from landfalling hurricanes are rare and highly localized. Before Irma made landfall in Florida last September, it had been 10 years since a major hurricane made landfall in the state. Long term sales declines were observed only in coastal areas where a significant percentage of structures were severely damaged by Category 4-plus winds. However, sales rebounded within about one month. JANUARY LEE COUNTY STATS (Single Family Homes) Closed Sales – 895 (+9.3%) Median Sale Price – $244,500 (-0.2%) Active Listings – 5,973 (-2.5%) New Pending Sales – 1,371 (+16.9%) Median Time to Contract – 60 days (-1.6%) RPCRA.ORG | MAR/APR 2018 9