May is here and the warm and dry weather continues on the Gulf County beaches. We’ve seen some more sporadic activity in our relevant real estate market this week, with a couple new contracts and more price reductions and new listings added to our inventory. It was a busier week with recorded sales from our comparative market of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor, and as usual we’ll start the weekly update with a recap of all 6 sales followed by more market information.
- 196 Las Palamas Lane – The first residential sale of the week comes from the Villa Del Sol subdivision on the south Cape. This Gulf front home was recently built in 2023 with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and 3,195 sq ft of fully furnished living space with a full service elevator and an elevated pool on the beachside deck. This turnkey vacation rental is new to the rental market and sits on a 62′ wide Gulf front lot with access to the neighborhood pickleball courts and community pool. The original asking price for this listing was $2,899,900 which was reduced down to $2,349,900 before going under contract after 285 total days on the market. The property just sold for $2,349,000 cash, which should be a decent gain for the sellers who purchased all 10 vacant Gulf front lots in Villa Del Sol in late 2021 from the developer for $5,250,000, then proceeded to build spec homes.
- 156 Louisiana Lane – Here’s another 2023-built Gulf front home on the south Cape, this one located in the Beachside subdivision a couple of neighborhoods to the west of Villa Del Sol. This 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom home has 1,728 sq ft of fully furnished living space on a 53′ wide, 0.59 acre beachfront lot, and the turnkey rental property grossed just under $60K in 2024. The listing hit the market this spring asking $1,490,000, reduced to $1,399,000, and after 44 total days on the market sold for $1,330,000 cash. The sellers purchased the vacant beachfront lot in 2020 for $240,000.
- 124 Reef Drive – Moving up to the north Cape, this 2016-built home is located in the Silent Sands neighborhood with Gulf and bay views. The turnkey vacation rental has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 1,900 sq ft of fully furnished living space and a private pool, with a recent rental income history of just under $70K in 2023. The home sits on a 85′ wide, 0.23 acre lot all located in the X flood zone (no flood insurance required by lenders). After 139 days on the market asking $1,098,000, this listing just sold for $1,000,000 cash, and the sellers bought the vacant lot in 2015 for $112,000 before contracting to build.
- 164 Aruba Drive – Still on the north Cape, this 1st tier half of a duplex is located in the Cape Sands Landing neighborhood directly behind a Gulf front unit with nice Gulf views. The unit was built in 1985 with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 1,394 sq ft of fully furnished living space and lots of recent improvements. After only 11 days on the market, this attached duplex sold for the full asking price of $919,000 with assumed financing. The sellers purchased this unit for $496,500 in 2020.
- 240 Parkside Circle – This townhome is located in the gated Barrier Dunes HOA on the north Cape near the state park. The interior unit was built in 2004 with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 1,312 sq ft of fully furnished living space. The turnkey residence sits on a 20′ wide, 0.02 acre pond-front property which has access to all HOA amenities including swimming pools, tennis courts, playground, clubhouse and beach access. The listing was originally priced at $425,000, reduced to $397,500, and after 68 total days on the market this townhome just sold for $386,500 cash. The sellers had owned the property since 2004 when they paid $164,000.
- 143 Cord Grass Way – Here’s the one and only vacant lot sale from the week located in the Jubilation subdivision on the south Cape. This gated community offers a neighborhood pool and clubhouse, community sewer, and an elevated deeded beach access boardwalk. The lot measures 0.12 acres in the X flood zone, and the original asking price was $139,900 in spring of 1994. After a total of 340 days on the market and several more price reductions down to a $90,000 asking price, the listing just sold for $65,000 cash, which is slightly up from the $61,000 the sellers paid in 2021.
This marks the third consecutive week with only 2 new contracts executed in our comparative market of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the 30-A corridor, as there was a noticeable decline in new activity when comparing April to March. There has been a decent number of buyers looking around at properties in our market, however, which will hopefully result in a May rebound as we head into the upcoming busier summer season. More sellers are prepping for a busier May as there were 15 more price reductions to report since our last update, although 8 of these reductions were made by DR Horton on their Redfish Cove spec homes. 3 sellers had a change of plans and withdrew their listings, while 3 more expired at the end of April.
14 new listings entered our already competitive MLS relevant market inventory this week, an even split of 7 residential listings and 7 more vacant lots now available. Our comparative market residential inventory now sits at 149 homes for sale, which is as high as I’ve seen since I started writing the blog. Vacant land inventory has also increased this week up to 139 lots listed for sale on all of the Cape, Indian Pass, and 30-A corridor. Interest rates seemed to have stabilized a bit after a turbulent April, and with some reports of easing inflation it sounds like there may be a better chance for some more rate cuts in the near future. Let’s get ready for a busier May – have a good weekend!
St. Joseph Bay view from the clubhouse on Black’s Island