Naples-area home sales dipped 2% last year

The number of Naples-area home sales dipped 2 percent last year to 9,751 from 9,902 in 2014.

The Naples Area Board of Realtors also reported that pending home sales declined by 1 percent to 10,366 from 10,494.

The Realtors said in an annual report that home sales increased year-over-year by 6 percent in both South Naples and East Naples.

But home sales fell in three other Naples submarkets where most of the area’s closings were concentrated.

Home sales fell by 6 percent in Naples Beach and Central Naples by 3 percent in North Naples.

Unseasonably warm weather in northern states appeared to delay buyer migration to Naples in the fourth quarter 2015, contributing to a 12 percent drop in closed home sales for the fourth quarter of 2015.

The number of Naples-area homes listed for sale increased 6 percent year-over-year, the first inventory expansion in years, according to one broker.

“We currently have a 5.42-month supply of inventory,” Cindy Carroll of appraisal and consultancy firm Carroll & Carroll, Inc. said in a prepared statement. “Granted, we are nowhere near our historic peak in 2008 when we had a three-years supply of inventory. But this is definitely the first year since the recession that we’ve seen an increase.”