National Association of Realtors Chief Economist’s 2010 projections

Trying to predict how the Sanibel Island and Captiva Island Real Estate market will go in 2010 is not an easy task.  The truth is that we have been seeing an increase in actual units under contract and the numbers of people who are making inquiries to me is about double of what it was last year at this time. 

This being said, translating inquiries into people actually looking at properties to then making offers is not an exact science either.  What I can report is that the NAR Chief Economist is predicting some improvements.  He reports that existing home sales in 2009 rose to an estimated 5 million units – a 2% increase over 2008.  For 2010, the forecast is for 5.7 million units or a 13.6% increase.

Additionally, because of the difficulty in obtaining jumbo financing, there was limited activity in the upper-end housing market.  NAR forecasts improvement in 2010 in this end of the market as banks continue to ease their lending.