Buying home foreclosures for sale in affluent neighborhoods in Lee County and in other areas of Southwest Florida can be profitable for investors who can afford to wait until prices return to their previous levels before selling.

According to Jeff Tumbarello, head of the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investment Association, more high-end foreclosure homes in Lee County have been entering the market because of rising unemployment, collapse of businesses and the depression of home prices.

Based on data from the association, a total of 1,628 foreclosure actions were posted in the area in October. The number marked a decrease of 40 percent from the record high 2,665 posted in October last year, but the foreclosures are now including homes in high-end neighborhoods.

Tumbarello said that one-third of all homes that were foreclosed over the past two quarters were homes with swimming pools. Realtor Brett Ellis affirmed the spread of foreclosures into high-end areas by saying that he is increasingly seeing home foreclosures for sale priced in the high-end range.

Higher-cost homes in Lehigh Acres are priced above $100,000 while high-end homes in Fort Myers are in the price range of $200,000.

Real estate investor Kerry Collier said she has purchased a high-end foreclosed house in Estero for $285,000 and expects higher-cost houses initially priced above $300,000 to go down in price over the next few weeks.

According to Collier, who also owns a real estate brokerage and an online FSBO enterprise, the Multiple Listing Service shows a lot of high-end foreclosed homes.

Meanwhile, Brad Hunter, head of residential market research firm Metrostudy, said that despite real estate vacancies and continuing foreclosures in parts of Southwest Florida, new homes are actually being built in Lee County. He said that single-family housing starts in subdivisions increased to 194 units in the third quarter, compared to the previous period and vacant homes increased to 728 units, compared to 703 in the previous period.

Over the past 12 months, home builders have been concentrating on cutting down their housing inventories, but now they have started building again in anticipation of demand for new homes and to replenish their inventories.

However, Metrostudy executive Hunter said that builders of new homes will face competition from more home foreclosures for sale that will enter the Southwest market in the coming months. He added that unemployment and the default of prime loans will push up foreclosure numbers.