Expert: External demand driving housing prices

The biggest issue with affordable housing in Lee County is that external demand has created a balance between supply and demand that increased prices from what local residents can pay for homes, an official told the audience at a Lee County housing symposium this morning.

According to statistics presented by James Nicholas, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Florida, incomes in Lee County grew at an average of 31 percent from 2000 to 2005. Housing prices grew 158 percent.

The manufacturing industry saw only a 1.01 percent growth in income, leisure and hospitality 5.43 and accommodation and food service 8.5 percent.

Nicholas spoke to an audience at the Horizon Council Workforce Housing Symposium in south Fort Myers.

Nicholas also pointed out that 71 percent of "economically active" households - those with at least one income-earner - earn less than the median $52,927. There are 112,796 households that earn an average of $36,368 annually and those households can afford a $122,225 home. The median price of a home in Lee County is more than $289,000.

To afford the average Lee County home, Nicholas said, the average income would need to be $89,489, and close to 90 percent of households do not earn that much.

The driving force behind the inconsistency is the up to 40 percent of investment properties in the county, he said, and that has squeezed out local households.

"The problem here is where is the future labor force going to come from for hospitality, tourism, education and essential services," Nicholas said. "If we try to raise wages, you are going to need very high wages."

Earlier today, the audience got a chance to be participants in the seminar through modern technology.

Each participant was given a lanyard with numbers on it that allowed them to respond to multiple choice questions like, "Do you believe there are things that can be done to solve the workforce housing problem?"

Choosing from yes, no, maybe and don't know, 87 percent of the audience choose the first response.

A wide variety of people from the building and development industry, real estate, government, non-profit and other areas are participating in the workshop.

The electronic polling also allowed organizers to collect other demographic information like median housing income, number of years living in the state and whether participants owned or rented their home.

The event is at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at Edison College in south Fort Myers.