Things looking up for Naples Commercial Real Estate Brokers?
With the pounding the sector took over the past two years, there may now be light at the end of the tunnel for local, Naples commercial real estate brokers. It’s official that today, the government announced the first quarter of growth since early 2007. Much of that driven by real estate activity across the board.

This news is going to be welcomed by the brokers across the city, state and indeed the country. Many firms who deal in and with property are shadows of their former selves having lost employees, clients and of course, money. Commercial property sales plunged 73% in 2008 according to Real Capital Analytics. Unemployment in the construction industry stands at a massive 15.3%, which is twice the national average of 7.2%.

Those that managed to survive will be looking to the future with hope in their eyes for the first time in almost two years. In both the purchase and rental markets there are increasing amounts of defaults on existing tenants, and a dearth of buyers for newly built properties.

It isn’t only the lack of new clients that have been causing problems. There is an estimated $400 billion worth of commercial mortgages that will be due by the end of 2009. If lending doesn’t speed up, at least some of these mortgage holders are going to have trouble securing further finance. That could add significantly to the state of the commercial property sector, and the economy as a whole.

However, with continued government stimulus, and increased pressure on the banks to lend, this disaster may be averted. If today’s figures mark the beginning of a trend instead of an anomaly then things should start looking up.

Many commercial expansions, building projects, relocations and other property associated activities have been on hold due to lack of confidence in the market, rather than lack of funds. The last couple of years haven’t been a good time for anybody, and those with money held onto it. Hopefully the first signs of growth will instill confidence in the population at large and spending will begin again.

As ever, much depends on the consumer, and whether they are still employed or have hopes for employment soon. Families have been either unable or reluctant to spend money like they used to which has filtered down through the economy. Any increase in consumer confidence will bolster everything from manufacturing to retail, with a knock on effect to employment.

Time will tell whether commercial real estate will pick up any time soon, it all depends on us keeping up the trend of growth that we started in the second quarter of 2009. Naples is well situated to take advantage of any growth and has enough inventory to supply any increase in demand for the foreseeable future.