HOW WILL HURRICANE IAN IMPACT THE SOUTHWEST FL REAL ESTATE MARKET

As most know, Southwest Florida has been significantly impacted by Hurricane Ian. People nation wide have been watching the news during/post Hurricane Ian and the devastation & loss is heartbreaking. We know you are feeling it too so we wanted to reach out and say, we are here, we are rebuilding and as always available to help and serve those who need us. Families have lost everything but our community is strong and the compassion and generosity we are seeing is a very bright light in a very dark moment.

Our primary focus right now beyond helping those in immediate need is serving our clients, and a huge part of that is educating our clients on what the experts think will happen in regards to the real estate market in Southwest Florida in terms of housing supply, demand, and pricing as a result of this hurricane.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO INVENTORY? (NUMBER OF HOMES FOR SALE)? 

As you know, thousands and thousands of home were washed away or flooded and are now essentially unlivable (mold) which means we expect the number of homes for sale to go down in the immediate future because they must process their insurance claim, have repairs done, etc. Many will be taken off the market until they are repaired. Most homes remain in tact though so we aren’t expecting anything drastic in regards to supply. 

HOW WILL BUYER DEMAND BE IMPACTED?

Because so many homes are now unable to be lived in due to damages/flooding we have thousands of people that will be looking for new housing. Many of these folks are well qualified to purchase a new home as well, whether they owned the prior home or if they were renting. Buyer demand should increase significantly.

WILL PEOPLE WANT TO SELL TO GET RID OF THEIR DAMAGED HOME?

In addition to the above there are going to be some sellers that want out of Florida, they are disturbed about what happened, and they might be willing to let go of their home for a good price (flooded or in good condition) just because they fear a repeat of what occurred. There will be some good deals out there including sellers that don’t want to go through the insurance process or did not have insurance and can’t afford the repairs. We also expect that many will want to buy further inland and find a house built up to a higher elevation. We expect inland homes (newer construction with better building codes) to increase significantly in terms of demand, as these houses were largely undamaged/not flooded and folks will want that for peace of mind. 

CONCLUSION:

Because of the above factors we expect that pricing WILL go up. We expect that buying and selling activity will increase substantially. To collaborate our logic we reviewed a number of studies on the impact of natural disasters on real estate pricing and our expectations outlined above are in alignment with what these articles have found. Typically the quarter directly after a natural disaster see prices stay relatively flat and then the second quarter following a disaster prices go up significantly for quite awhile.

Our market had slowed down the past 3 months however we expect once the fallout is dealt with that prices and demand will be positive over the next year starting in just a few short months from now, based on historical data. With that said if you are thinking of buying then the sooner the better. This is not a sales pitch, this is based on the studies we’ve read and common sense, which is, there are thousands of people that need a place to live that are qualified to buy, its as simple as that.

We live in an amazing area of our country and we are truly blessed to call Southwest Florida home. We do look forward to sharing our slice of paradise with you when you are ready. We are here to serve you when you are ready. Until then if you have any questions or needs please do not hesitate to reach out.