Hurricane Ian Failed to Upset Naples Housing Market’s Resilience

The impact of Hurricane Ian, as witnessed on the last two days of September, is not reflected in the September 2022 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island). Given this, September’s data showed a predictable pattern of slow closed and pending sales with a slight increase in inventory, which is traditionally the case in historically stable Septembers. (The September 2022 infographic and chart are located at the end of this email.) While the report captured activity prior to Hurricane Ian’s arrival, broker analysts who reviewed the report on October 18th are confident Naples’ recovery will be swift and the resiliency of its home values will be protected.

Obviously, some properties in Naples that experienced damage from the hurricane will come off the market because they will need to be assessed by insurance adjusters and undergo repairs. But unlike harder hit Lee and Charlotte counties, very few properties in Collier County were destroyed.

A considerable number of businesses and properties that experienced the storm’s surge were swift to recover. Major area attractions like the Zoo, popular restaurants and golf courses have already reopened. Vellano added, “If you visit our popular shopping districts today, you’d be hard pressed to recognize we had a major hurricane event two weeks ago.”

Indeed, our county’s hurricane building code standards and quality craftsmanship by local builders helped to greatly reduce the amount of major structural damage in the area. Additionally, drainage improvements to the City and County’s stormwater infrastructure and new flood prevention management ordinances attributed to Naples’ quick recovery efforts.

Spencer Haynes, Vice President of Business Development and Broker with John R. Wood Properties, assures the public and NABOR® members that September’s Market Report did not reveal any surprises and that instead of spending time analyzing the report you should spend the time helping human service organizations that provide direct recovery support.

The NABOR® September 2022 Market Report provides comparisons of single-family home and condominium sales (via the Southwest Florida MLS), price ranges, and geographic segmentation and includes an overall market summary. NABOR® sales statistics are presented in chart format, including these overall (single-family and condominium) findings for 2022: