It’s Friday, August 16th, and today marks the official start to the 2024 Scallop Season here in Gulf County. While vacation rentals have slowed down in recent weeks due to school schedules, our area will see a boost in visitor traffic over the next month or so, especially on the weekends due to the popularity of the shellfish harvest season. Prepare for some increased boat traffic on St. Joseph’s Bay through the end of the season, which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24th. So far in August our real estate market has not seen an increase in transaction traffic, as we’re reporting another week of lackluster numbers on new contracts and recorded sales on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. It’s not all bad news this week as some favorable inflation data pushed mortgage rates down to their lowest levels in over a year, and we are getting closer to that September federal rate cut that most financial experts are predicting. On to our weekly update, details below on the 2 comparative market recorded sales followed by new activity information:
- TBD Cape San Blas Road – This bayfront vacant lot is located on the north Cape, just across the road from the Seagrass subdivision. The lot measures 101′ wide on St Joseph’s Bay and 520′ deep, totaling 1.19 acres of buildable land. The property was on the market for 17 days asking $725,000 before going under contract and selling for $680,000 cash, which is up from the $280,000 the sellers paid back in 2018.
- Parcel A Cape San Blas Road – This is a north Cape roadside property which adjoins the previously mentioned bayfront lot on the north Cape. Same buyer, different seller on this neighboring vacant lot which offers the same width with 220′ of depth totaling 0.51 acres in the X flood zone. This lot was only on the market for 1 day before going under contract, and the buyer paid $300,000 cash for the property which was last purchased for $163,400 back in 2015.
There were only 2 new contracts executed in the past 7 days in our comparative market, a Gulf view condo on the south Cape and a vacant lagoon-front lot on CR 30-A. 10 more listings recorded price reductions since our last update, as sellers are optimistic that falling interest rates and improved pricing will eventually spur some more buying activity. Meanwhile the troubling trend of buyer reservations continued this week as 3 more recent contracts were cancelled, consisting of a couple of Gulf front homes and a Gulf front lot on the Cape which are now all back on the active MLS market. On the subject of our MLS, this weekend marks the National Association of Realtors new mandate deadline when real estate brokers can no longer advertise offers of buyers’ agent compensation on the Multiple Listing Service. Most sellers are still offering buyers’ agent commissions in our market in order to maintain a competitive advantage, we as agents and brokers are just communicating with cooperating buyers’ agents and brokers in accordance with the new NAR requirements. All MLS participants are also now required to enter into a written agreement with any potential buyer prior to touring a home.
2 new residential listings and 5 vacant lots were added to our comparative market inventory this past week. This brings our residential inventory up 3 from last week to 149 homes for sale, and our vacant land inventory is up 4 to 119 lots available on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. Until next week, have a good one, and hopefully we’ll get some decent scallop reports this season. Let me know anytime I can help with your real estate needs, (850)899-8765 or [email protected].
Scallop Season in St. Joseph’s Bay runs from August 16th through September 24th