There are half a dozen markets in Florida that are positively trending, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Two of these markets are located on Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast: Punta Gorda and North Port.

The NAHB has an Improving Market Index that analyzes Metropolitan Statistical Areas that have shown improvement from their “market bottoms with respect to residential building permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months” (Bubil).

Punta Gorda and North Port are two cities that are on the list of improving markets as of February 2012.  Comparatively, since January 2009, which is when housing permits seemed to bottom out in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area, building permits are up 1.6% in Punta Gorda and 2.7% in North Port.

Additionally, since home prices bottomed out in February 2011, there has been an increase of 6.2% in North Port (including Sarasota and Bradenton) and 11.5% in Punta Gorda (Charlotte County, including Port Charlotte, the Gulf Coves and Rotonda). This places Punta Gorda at number three on the chart of improving cities in the state of Florida for highest price gains.

While these numbers are encouraging, conditions are expected to continue to improve moving forward. Southwest Florida continues to rank high in the fastest rebounding cities in the United States– which is impressive, considering it was so strongly affected by the housing crisis.

If you would like to take advantage of the rising conditions of property on Florida’s Gulf Coast, please click here, Southwest Florida Real Estate For Sale. For more information on a specific property, please contact Jim Mulligan, Suncoasteam Realty at 941-235-7474 or jim@suncoasteam.com.