We’re heading into a beautiful Easter weekend at the beach after the last full week of March. It’s crazy how fast the first quarter of 2024 has flown by, with our comparative Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and CR/SR 30-A real estate market adjusting to keep up. In reviewing the statistics of the 2024 first quarter, our market production has overall been comparable to 2023. The number of closed residential sales is just under what was recorded in 2023, with 20 so far this year compared to 23 first quarter sales last year. The sales volume was slightly higher this year coming in at $23,161,154 vs $21,769,700 last year, with the average home sale price up 22% to $1,158,058. No, our property values have not gone up this much since first quarter of 2023, we’ve just had a couple more high-end outliers in 2024 with more interior homes sold in early 2023. Meanwhile on the comparative market vacant land front, we have seen a steeper decline in number of transactions this year, dropping from 29 lots sold in 2023 first quarter to only 12 lots sold so far in 2024. The average sales price for vacant lots is up 77% to $424,833, which can be explained by very few interior lot sales so far in 2024 and a higher concentration of waterfront lot sales. The first quarter of 2024 is a small sample size obviously, but our values are in good shape as expected. We seem to be on a relatively decent production pace currently after a slower start to the year in January and February. On to our weekly update, there were 3 recorded sales to close out March this week, details below followed by some new activity and more inventory additions:
- 209 Gulf Pines Drive – Here’s our first sale of the week, this home is first tier in location (one behind Gulf front) in the Gulf Pines neighborhood off of the CR 30-A corridor. The recently improved house was built in 1999 with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,548 sq ft of fully furnished living space. The Gulf view residence sits on a 100′ wide, 0.66 acre lot, and it only lasted 5 days on the active market before going under contract and selling for the full asking price of $819,000 with VA financing. This represents a nice gain for the sellers who purchased the home in 2020 for $475,000.
- 224 Seahorse Lane – We’re on to the north Cape where this attached beachfront residence just made it to closing. This end unit of a 1987-built triplex was sold fully furnished with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and 1,296 sq ft of living space with some recent improvements on a small, 0.03 acre lot. The Gulf front unit generated $82K in gross rental income last year, and it was on the market for 38 days asking $760,000. The sale was recorded at $765,000 (included a seller credit for closing costs) which is a long-term gain for the sellers who purchased for $225,000 back in 2002.
- Lot 18 CR 30-A – The one and only vacant lot sale this week is located near the Gulf/Franklin county line on the CR 30-A corridor. This lagoon-front property measures 80′ wide and 0.71 acres in the Pass View subdivision. The lot was on the market for 45 days with a price tag of $82,000 before going under contract and selling for $80,000 cash. The seller purchased this lot and the neighboring lot 19 together for $144,000 in late 2022.
There were 5 contracts executed by buyers and sellers in our comparative market within the past 7 days, consisting of 4 new vacant land contracts and 1 new residential contract. 2 vacant lot listings expired, another was withdrawn, and a total of 6 sellers elected to lower their asking prices before heading into April.
Without question the biggest shift in our comparative real estate market this year has been an increase in inventory levels. 8 more available homes were added to our residential inventory count this week, with 10 more vacant lots adding to the land inventory as well. As we close out the first quarter of 2024, our residential inventory now sits at 104 homes for sale (up 7 from last week) while there are currently 117 vacant lots on the market (up 3 from last week) on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. To further emphasize our shift in inventory levels, at this time last year there were 52 homes listed for sale and 91 lots available in our comparative market. Buyers will certainly have more options moving forward this year.
Let me know anytime I can be of service, (850)899-8765 or [email protected]. I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!
