Michael Timmerman, managing director for Hanley Wood, a national company that collects and analyzes data for home builders, spoke at the REIS (Real Estate Investment Society) luncheon on Tuesday and told the audience he sees sales picking up in 2007 at the expense of price.

We will have more sales in 2007, I will guarantee you that," said Timmerman.  Timmerman said the market will be toughest for the mid-range homes that were heavily speculated by investors as prices rose sharply in 2004 and 2005.  "What’s doing well is the low and high ends of the market."

Timmerman, and agents from the audience all agreed, it’s a good time to be a buyer as selection is good, rates are low, and prices have come down considerably.

The Ellis Team at RE/MAX agrees largely with Michael Tmmerman reported.  Sellers who have reacted and priced accordingly are selling in the SW Florida real estate market.  Foreclosures are rising a bit as some sellers cannot afford to sell at the new prices because they financed 100% at the top of the market in 2005, and they cannot afford the payments.  Those sellers are in for a rough time.

Sellers who bought before 2005 are in better shape, they just can’t expect the profits they would have received on paper had they sold sooner.  Many believe the market is bottoming out in some segments.  We’ll explore this in further detail in our upcoming 2007 State of the Market Report for SW Florida.  Meanwhile, excellent statistics on the local housing market can be found at our Housing Statistics page at Topagent.com