It’s 80 degrees in Florida…

In this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan wrote:
“In the past year the owners of great businesses found how much can be done remotely.
They hadn’t known that!
They hadn’t had to find out.
They don’t have to pay that killer rent for office space anymore.
People think it will all snap back when the pandemic is fully over but no, a human habit broke; a new way of operating has begun. People will come back to office life to some degree, maybe a significant one; not everything can be done remotely; people want to gather, make friends, instill a sense of mission; but it will never be what it was.
The Partnership for New York City reports 300,000 residents of high-income neighborhoods have filed change-of-address forms with the U.S. Postal Service. You know where they are going: to lower-tax and no-income-tax states.

A recent report suggested that 850 people per day will move to Florida for the next 5 years as they seek “the weather, lifestyle and tax benefits” offered by Florida.

The housing market is on fire in Southwest Florida, although I like to point out that “low” inventory in Florida is a bit like a “cold” spell: it’s all relative.

Last May I published Goodbye Boston, Hello Marblehead which contained these predictions:

– People, especially families with young children, will look to move out of Boston and to towns like Marblehead with great schools, open spaces, history – and ocean
– The demand for open floor plans will give way to the desire for separate rooms. after families get bored of listening to everybody else’s Zoom calls, online classes, etc. etc.
– The perceived negative of Marblehead that commuting into Boston is a challenge (one which residents happily overcome) will diminish as more people work remotely at least some of the time.
– Did I mention the ocean?

The median price of the Single Family Homes sold in Marblehead spiked from $678,500 in the first half of 2020 (which was down a fraction from 2019) to $839,900, driven by a combination of buyers fleeing cities and ‘Headers even more reluctant than usual to sell and leave town.

What started as a movement on health grounds has developed – and in my opinion will continue to develop – into a secular trend of people moving to more hospitable surroundings – whether for weather, lifestyle of taxes – or all three.

Just yesterday I spoke to a woman in Naples who said she and her husband were thinking of selling their house in Massachusetts and living full-time in Florida – and they are not alone.

Another consequence of this trend is that, as people decide to spend more time in Florida, to work in Florida, and perhaps to make Florida their main residence, so the demand for Single Family Homes and Villas will increase as people seek more space and more independence from their neighbours than they have in their current Condo.

While I still maintain my market research in Massachusetts and work with Dick McKinley and Matt Dolan of Team Harborside in buying and selling properties there, I have also activated my Florida license with Domain Realty, whose offices in Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers generated $440 million of sales in 2020.

I am in the process of populating my Florida database website (www.OliverReportsFL.com) while AndrewOliverRealtor.com  allows you to search any town or community in Southwest Florida and set up alerts, and Oliver Reports Florida on Facebook, is the page that will get my updates on the market here and other Florida news.

But…. the market is hot right now (and next year seems likely to see even more demand as the Canadians and Europeans return) so please contact me – or refer me to a friend – and I will help you in your search for a home – or a bigger home – in Paradise.

Andrew Oliver
Sales Associate | Market Analyst | DomainRealty.com
REALTOR®

Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers
Andrew.Oliver@DomainRealtySales.com
m. 617.834.8205
www.AndrewOliverRealtor.com
www.MarbleheadSouth.com

Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945

www.OliverReportsMA.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com

Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated