Wouldn't you rather be here? Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fort Myers and Bonita Beach real estate. Sabina's Market Watch! Featuring MLS listings and sales statistics for single family homes and condominiums located on the beach, golf course, canal and inland. It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to all of this plus short sales and what I consider to be best buys in our area. Zoom into locations and price ranges. Find community descriptions, closed sales and many active MLS listings for all categories. Everything you wish to know is just a click away on the menu to your left. Occasionally you are prompted to click on pictures to see MLS listings, like these two examples below. To see all bank owned homes (REO) in my slaes area, please click on the next picture. Only 1 bank owned on Sanibel and Captiva in May 2012. In 2011 we sold more single family homes on Sanibel and Captiva combined, than in any other year since 2005. And the prices are going uP! Please scroll down for more statistics. Did you know that though we may have multi million dollar listings on Sanibel Island, 79% of our single family homes sold under $750,000 in the winter of 2012? Sanibel Lighthouse Sanibel and Captiva are highly sought after barrier islands off the lower Gulf coast in southwest Florida. Captiva is just one square mile in size and Sanibel twenty. Together they stretch for about 20 miles with white, sandy beaches along the green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Sanibel is the only SW Florida barrier island with a large southern exposure. Fort Myers Beach runs parallel to the mainland with a seven mile long beach on Estero Island. The above picture overlooks the Sanibel Causeway followed by Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Beach, Naples and Marco Island.   Wherever you choose to live here, you will be surrounded by beauty and an unparalleled quality of life, like golfing, shelling, swimming, fishing, boating and taking in glorious sunshine on our pristine beaches. Relax on your lanai or next to the swimming pool with a good book. Or do ABSOLUTELY nothing!   Sabina's Market Watch Our market has certainly been challenging since the middle of 2006. Sanibel and Captiva Market Watch Sanibel and Captiva had few short sales and bank owned homes. These islands fell victim to the general global market slow-down. The biggest impact here was that we sold far fewer homes than we used to, creating a large inventory along the way and bringing down prices by as much as 20%-30%. But buyer beware! This is no longer the time to sit back and wait. When you look at the tables below you see that we sold 50% more single family homes in 2011 compared to 2010 on Sanibel and Captiva combined. This means that we sold more single family homes in 2011 on these islands than in any other year since 2005. And the prices are going uP! Sanibel and Captiva Average Prices and Numbers Sold Per Year   2005  2006  2007  2008  2009   2010  2011  2012 Single Family    $1,152,708 [297] $1,213,784 [166] $1,287,461 [162] $1,155,583 [161] $936,804 [160] $886,435 [134] $930,756 [201] $                    Condo- minium   $775,587 [277] $930,420 [164] $797,601 [99] $761,137 [116]  $697,6011 [109]  $622,290 [146]  $612,954 [166] $ Bay front Home on Sanibel   Sanibel Year-To-Date Sales 2012 Versus 2011 If you have visited my website before and seen these statistics last month, you know that prices still increased even though we sold more homes. At the end of the 2012 season, however, we see a slight dip in price, when comparing 2012 to 2011. This may only be a typical end-of-season seller realization to negotiate more if he wants to sell this year, or perhaps not. In any event, these dips are small. Our inventory remains high. It seems that with every home we sold, another one entered the market. Clearly this is a perfect time to buy. If you should click on the link below this table you will find that 43% of all listed homes on May 7, 2012 have a list price below $750,000. You will also see that of all homes sold this season, 79% sold below $750,000. The inventory total has hardly changed from the beginning of the year. Sanibel Year-to-Date As of April 30, 2012 Property  Year  # Sold  Average Price   Single Family  2012  70  $790,000    2011  63  $804,741  Condominium  2012  58  $628,246    2011  54  $687,662 For more current Sanibel Statistics, please click here. Captiva Year-To-Date Sales 2012 Versus 2011 Activity on Captiva is suddenly increasing at the end of the 2012 season! Single Family homes are declining in sales prices and condominium prices are increasing. We are selling more than double the number of single family homes and condominiums in 2012, compared to 2011 for the same time frame. Captiva Year-To-Date as of April 30,2012 Property  Year  # Sold  Average Price   Single Family  2012  13  $1,751,538    2011    5 $2,552,260  Condominium  2012  15  $837,133    2011    6  $767,917 For more current Captiva Statistics, please click here. Sanibel Home Inland   Fort Myers and Cape Coral Market Watch In Fort Myers and Cape Coral our inventory remains high and prices have come down by more than 20%-40% since 2007, and land values in Cape Coral decreased by even more. We sold an incredible number of homes during these past few years. Most were short sales and foreclosed homes, built since 2000. But our market is changing. Since last November Cape Coral and Fort Myers ranked number 1 and 2 for most recovered markets in the United States, when previously they were at the bottom. And when comparing sales of existing single family homes in November 2010 with November 2011, the median sales price increased by 20% in these areas.       Sanibel Canal Front Home      For the End-Of-Season Market Watch of my sales area, including Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, please click here Sanibel Gulf Front Homes   If you would like more information, presented on this page or on one of the many pages displayed on the menu to your left, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you. Sabina (239-851-4512)     Pfeifer Realty Group, LLC   1630 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, FL 33957