Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is one of the top 50 busiest airports in the United States, with annual traffic growth over 7 percent. The airport served more than 7.6 million passengers in 2006. Serving Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties, the airport's trade area is home to almost 900,000 year-round residents. Visitors and residents can fly nonstop to Fort Myers from Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and international destinations such as Munich and Toronto. Recent figures released by the Lee County Port Authority report that passenger traffic in August was up 7.6 percent, compared to last year's traffic at this time, with over 5.8 million passengers accommodated, year to date. August was a record-breaking month with 488,539 passengers flying in and out of the airport. This total represents a 9.4 percent increase from last August.

A recent study conducted by Wayne Archer, Director of the University of Florida's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, points to positive trends for Florida real estate. "Florida's new home market appears for now to be stabilizing as a result of persistent demand for homes and lack of overbuilding. What sets Florida apart is its high growth rate, allowing quicker recovery from setbacks in the real estate market. Another advantage Florida has is a rate of building that is moderate enough to prevent large imbalances in supply and demand," said Archer.

Florida continues to gain new residents every day. By some estimates, 1,000 people move to the Sunshine State each day to take advantage of the lifestyle options afforded by over 300 days of sunshine each year. In Southwest Florida, Collier County accounts for 31% of the region's population. The University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, 2006 Population Studies projects a 42% population increase in Collier County from 2005 to 2015. This influx of new residents will include part of the 76 million baby boomers, who began turning 60 years old this year.

With these trends and our increased supply of inventory, we are now experiencing some of the best buying opportunities in the past several years," said Richardson.