Newsletter 28

STUDY FINDS AREA’S HOUSING PRICES AFFORDABLE: Despite rapidly rising home prices, it is still a good time to buy real estate in Southwest Florida. Homes in Sarasota and Manatee counties remain well below prices from the housing bubble of the mid-2000s, and are still considered affordable, based on the region’s historical data released last week by industry researcher RealtyTrac Inc. Please click on the link for more of this story, courtesy of our Sarasota Herald Tribune: Local Home Prices Still Low

REGION HAS INCREASING APPEAL TO A GLOBAL CROWD: Southwest Florida’s popularity among foreign buyers interested in snapping up vacation homes, retirement residences and investment properties comes as international sales jumped 24% throughout the Sunshine State in the latest year measured by NAR. Nonresident foreigners – those who live here a portion of the year – bought $7.97 billion worth of residential real estate in Florida from July 2013 through this past June. "Florida is one of the major U.S. destinations of international residential real estate buyers", said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. Please click on the link for more: More Foreign Buyers Buy Here

AIRPORT PROGRESS: Air Canada, which announced this week that it will be offering year-round service to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, is the first of many air carriers that are interested in expanding service in Southwestern Florida. In 2015, the airport will have eight seasonal flights, which includes a new, second daily flight to and from Chicago’s O’Hare International and new weekend flights to New York. A U.S. Customs & Border Protection Federal Inspection center under construction at the airport is expected to be open in May. Airport and local tourism officials said they hope that expanded customs operation will be the next step in attracting international air carriers. Here’s more: Airport Seeking More Growth

ANOTHER BANNER YEAR FOR TOURISM IN REGION: Sarasota County celebrated another banner year for tourism in 2014. More than 929,000 visitors stayed in hotels and vacation condominiums in the county from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014 – an increase of 5.2% when compared with the same period a year earlier. Sarasota and Manatee counties have outpaced Florida in visitation growth so far this year, and tourism promoters expect a strong winter "snowbird" season. Follow the jump for more: Tourism Continues to Spik

ANOTHER HURRICANE-FREE YEAR: Florida beat the odds again, extending a hurricane-free stretch that climate experts describe as remarkable. It has now been nine years since a hurricane made landfall in the Sunshine State, nearly double the previous record run without a strike. This hurricane season ended on November 30, and experts say there is no simple explanation for this extended run of good fortune. That sound you hear is us knocking on wood :). There’s more here: Another Hurricane Season, Minus The Hurricanes