The Sunshine State is as hot as ever as home price increases remained in double digits in November.

Continuing to show little fallout from the events of Sept. 11, Florida's statewide median sales price rose 10 percent from $117,100 in November last year to $128,000 this November, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

A major question is whether the downturn in airline travel and tourism which followed the September terrorist attacks will continue. For now, however, home sale trends around the state are generally up.

Prices rose most on the coast by 34 percent on the southwest peninsula area of Punta Gorda; 24 percent on the southeast peninsula area of Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie; 19 percent in Miami in the south; 16 percent in the Tampa Bay Area region and 14 percent both in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale areas.

"The sale of homes in the Tampa Bay area is very strong. Homes that are priced properly and in good repair are selling in less than 30 days in most cases," said Tom Scaglione, with the ERA-The Polo Group in Tampa, reporting to RealtyTimes.com's Tampa Bay Market Conditions Report.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area reported a big boost in sales -- 2,356 existing single-family homes changed hands this November, 6 percent more than November 2000, according to FAR.

The sunshine doesn't hurt, but there's more to life in the land of oranges.

"Tampa Bay is a very desirable area of Florida to live in due to all the good jobs available, good infrastructure for all ones needs, and great weather. Tampa Bay has professional sports teams, performing arts centers, museums, Ybor City, and lost of other entertainment facilities," Scaglione added.

Single-family home sales overall, however, weren't as hot as prices, with 12,637 homes sold statewide in November 2001, compared to 12,454 homes sold during the same month last year for only a 1 percent increase, even though interest rates were near record low levels averaging 6.66 percent in November.

One sore spot was the ritzy gulf town of Naples where sales fell 10 percent and prices were down 5 percent.

"We do have a few more homes on the market, new and resale, but we are about to enter our selling season and the demand for homes will be greater than ever," an optimistic Ginne Lee with Naples Realty Services reported to RealtyTimes.com's Naples Market Condition Report.

"We are in a very special area where most of our home are cash transactions which keeps our market strong because no one has to sell because of financial reasons. But I do feel we will see more homes financed because of the low interest rates," Lee said.

Better numbers, double digit sales jumps were evident in Panama City (39 percent), Fort Myers-Cape Coral (30 percent) and Tallahassee and Jacksonville, both 17 percent.

"The market here has been outstanding, says Mary McCall, broker associate with RE/MAX ACR Elite in Tampa and president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors.

"It's all the usual factors that influence buyers: a moderate climate, abundant leisure time activities, a good flow of jobs and affordable housing compared to many other areas of the state. Plus, I think we now have a better business climate here, and the more business you have, the more people want to move to your area," McCall said.

For more articles by Broderick Perkins, please press here.

Published: January 4, 2002

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.