But today the situation looks very different.
According to an analysis provided by Michael Saunders Co. agent Robert S. Goldman, a 4.3-month supply of homes was for sale in North Port at the end of June — a ridiculously low number, considering that a six-month supply represents a healthy market and anything below that means sellers can begin pushing prices up.
And there have been some early indicators that prices are rebounding. The median price for the 50 homes that sold during the first 20 days of July was $105,500, up 12 percent from the same 20-day period last year. In turn, the median price has battled back from a Great Recession low of $76,125 at the end of November.
For a city that has suffered one of the highest rates of foreclosure in the nation since boom evaporated, the new numbers represent a glimmer of hope the market has turned and almost silent home builders can begin revving up their cement mixers and nail guns again.
But, in North Port, nothing is ever exactly what it seems.
The drop in inventory had everything to do with the rob-signing crisis that broke out nearly a year ago. Worried that they did not have proper signatures on foreclosure documents, banks halted their filings and fired their lawyers.
“The reality is that there is still a tremendous amount of inventory that is not yet for sale,” said Dennis Black, a Port Charlotte real estate consultant. “You have people who are behind on their mortgages and the banks haven’t bothered to foreclose.”
Eventually those homes will come on the market, Black said, and when they do, inventory levels will rise again.
Most market watchers say foreclosure filings already have started to pick up. But it will take a few months before North Port’s extraordinarily low inventory numbers will begin to increase.
“The robo-signing crisis took a huge number of foreclosures out of inventories,” said Albert Dumas, an agent with Re/Max Alliance Group in Sarasota. “As North Port was one of the biggest areas for foreclosures, its supplies were hit the hardest. But everyone I talk to at the big banks say supplies will come up again. We originally heard that it would happen in June and July, but now we’re hearing it will be the first of the year.”
In the meantime, North Port agents say they are panting for homes to sell.
“I have investors who are salivating as they wait to get their hands on fresh inventory,” said Jeannie Brooks, an agent with Re/Max Anchor Realty in North Port. “There is nothing on the market that they can come in and flip. There are just too many competing offers that are driving up prices.”
Brooks pointed out that investors have dominated the North Port market for the past two years, which is reflected by the fact that 61 percent of the 1,553 deals that closed during the 12 months ended July 20 were closed with buyers paying cash.
That is up from the preceding 12-month period when 54 percent of the 1,667 deals were closed with cash.
“Investors and second-home buyers are doing a good job cleaning up the market,” Brooks said.
As of June 30, 582 homes were for sale, according to numbers Goldman provided, a 38 percent drop from the 939 homes on the market at the end of December.
“Inventories have been dropping at the rate of 10 to 13 homes a week,” said Shannon Moore, managing broker of GreenLionRealty.com in North Port. “People keep saying those numbers will go up again, but we haven’t seen it yet.”
Moore said she understands why people keep saying inventories are bound to rise.
“When you look down the block and see five of the 10 houses are vacant, you get a good idea about shadow inventory,” she said. “But there is a possibility those houses will be sold through short sales and may never have to go through the court system.”