Autumn arrived right on schedule this week and our weather has been absolutely gorgeous: cooler days and nighs, low humidity, crystal clear skies, and cool gentle breezes. October is one of my favorite months to be here on the Cape. Our real estate market cooled a bit, too, as we had just one sale and one new contract, and only seven new listings and five price changes. A lot of listings expired without renewing apparently, as our inventory took a nice dip, down sixteen from last week, to a total of 368 active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and C-30 Corridor market, consisting of 135 houses and 233 lots. Let’s take a look at what moved.
More action at Barrier Dunes as our solo sale was this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 1,856 square foot gulf view townhouse listed for $299,000, a bit above the county’s current assessed value of $263,831, but only about half of the $499,000 the sellers paid for it in September 2004. We can see now looking back at the data that was the precise month our market peaked and began its slow steady drift back downward. I checked the sales history on this home and it is so symptomatic of what was typical of sales activity during the market run-up in that it sold three times in just as many years. In April 2002 it sold for $240,000, then again the following summer in June 2003 for $315,000, and finally to our sellers in September 2004 for the aforementioned $499,000. That’s over 100% perceived appreciation in 2 1/2 years. But, as they say, that was then and this is now, and this week it sold for just $215,000, indicating we’ve fallen back to about 2001, 2000 prices which is what we’ve been seeing pretty regularly here recently.
Our one new contract is also on the Cape, and it’s on a 4-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath gulf front home built in 2003, listed for $825,000. The lot alone sold for $400,000 in 2002 which is about what the county currently has it assesed for even with this lovely home: $437,618. It’s located just a little south of Scallop Cove. I’m curious to see what this one actually sells for with their being such a wide disparity between the list and assessed values as those assessed values in more cases than not lately have been pretty close to actual market.
There are so few new listings and price changes I’m going to hold off on doing Picks of the Week in either category. Hopefully we’ll have a larger crop from which to choose next week. So that’s a super quick wrap up for this week. It’s a bit of a relief from some of the marathon reviews we’ve been seeing so frequently lately. I hope you’re enjoying a taste of autumn in your neck of the woods. I appreciate your taking a few minutes out of your schedule to stop by today and I hope to hear from you if you’re intrested in either buying or selling. My phone number is 850-227-5197, and my email address is [email protected].