Happy Independence Day! It’s a busy holiday weekend in Gulf County with plenty of fireworks on tap as we head into the second half of 2025. Our market has slowed down a bit over the past few weeks, but we saw this same short-term trend in our comparative market around the middle of summer last year as well. In fact, the overall production level for 2025 has been fairly comparable to what we saw during the first half of 2024. For the first 6 months of 2025, we have seen a total of 83 residential and vacant land transactions in our comparative market of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor with a total sales volume of $64,926,550. The first half of 2024 produced 90 total transactions with a sales volume of $67,355,554. The 83 transactions for 2025 breaks down to 50 residential sales (up from 46 homes sold during first half of 2024) and 33 vacant lot sales (down from 44 in first half of 2024). The average sales price for a home in our comparative market so far in 2025 is $1,110,574, which is up about 3% from the $1,075,892 average home sale price for the first half of 2024. Vacant lots have averaged a lower sales price of $284,783 to date in 2025 compared to last year’s $406,011 at this time, which can mostly be attributed to a higher percentage of interior lots being sold so far in 2025. While our overall production levels are not far off from last year, the market feels like it’s moving slower due to the increased inventory levels. Most sellers are having to be more patient and flexible in our current buyers’ market. At this time last year there were 139 homes and 112 lots listed for sale on our comparative market MLS, and this year we’re currently looking at 154 homes and 159 vacant lots on the active MLS market. The most glaring statistical difference comparing last year to this year so far has been average days on the market for residential properties, which has increased from 81 days during the first half of 2024 to 151 days for residential properties this year. Interesting to note that vacant lots are averaging a lower 81 days on the market this year compared to 122 days at this time last year. Meanwhile the average sales to original list price ratio for homes has dropped from 91% last year to 89% this year, while vacant lots are selling for 90% of their original list price in 2025 compared to 88% for the first half of 2024. We’ll see if the second half of 2025 can improve on our 2024 totals as we will hopefully see a little more consumer confidence in the near future. In the meantime, let’s catch up on recent market activity from this holiday-shortened work week with a review of the 4 recorded sales from Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor comparative market:
- 138 Mainsail Lane – The first residential property which made it to closing this week is a bayfront home on the north Cape which was built in 2004 with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3,732 sq ft of partially furnished living space and a full service elevator. The bayfront home sits on a 128′ wide, 0.75 acre lot with a private dock on St. Joseph Bay. After 81 days on the market with an asking price of $1,949,000, this listing just sold for $1,825,000 cash which included a $2,500 repair credit. The sellers had owned the home since it was built and purchased the vacant bayfront lot in 1999 for $150,000.
- 5191 Clipper Way – Here’s a beachfront home just sold on the north Cape which was built in 1993 with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,336 sq ft of furnished living space and significant recent improvements. The turnkey vacation rental sits on a 50′ wide, 0.24 acre Gulf front lot and generated just over $76K in gross rental income last year. This listing hit the market 87 days ago asking $1,500,000, reduced to $1,250,000 in late May, and just sold for $1,000,000 cash, which is up from the $937,500 the sellers paid in 2020.
- 113 Boardwalk Avenue – We’re on the south Cape for this next residential sale, which is located in the Boardwalk HOA with deeded beach access boardwalks and a community pool and clubhouse. This home was built in 2019 with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and 1,836 sq ft of unfurnished living space, and it sits on a 78′ wide, 0.18 acre interior lot with bay views across Cape San Blas Rd. After 69 days on the market asking $779,900, this residence just sold for $749,000 with conventional financing. The sellers purchased the vacant lot in 2016 for $37,000 and started building a couple years later.
- 262 Sea Lavender Lane – The lone vacant lot recorded sale from the week is a lagoon-front parcel located in the Mystic Palms gated community on Indian Pass, which offers deeded beach access and a community pool. This irregular-shaped waterfront lot measures 0.35 acres with ~175′ of frontage on the SE section of Indian Lagoon. The listing lasted 44 days on the market asking $299,900 before selling for $250,000 cash, which is down from the $450,000 the sellers paid back in 2004.
2 new residential contracts were executed in our comparative market within the past 7 days, both contracts were on beachfront homes from the north Cape. Continuing with our buyers’ market trend, there were 13 price adjustments to report this week, the sum of 6 residential price cuts and 7 vacant lot reductions. 4 more residential listings expired at the end of June, no longer on the active market.
On to our current relevant inventory update, an even split of 4 residential listings and 4 vacant lots were added to our MLS this week. As referenced earlier, the comparative market residential inventory now sits at 154 homes for sale, while vacant land inventory has increased to 159 lots available on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. I hope everyone has an enjoyable 4th of July holiday weekend. There will be plenty of fireworks on the beaches of Gulf County, and Port St. Joe has their fireworks show scheduled for 10:00 pm tonight over St. Joseph Bay from George Core Park. Speaking of fireworks on the beach, there is a beach clean-up day scheduled for this Sunday, July 6th, starting at 8:00 am EST at Salinas Park bayside, where organized volunteers will help clean up any beach trash from Indian Pass to Eglin Air Force property and be eligible for drawings and prizes. Good Vibes, Clean Tides!
Happy 4th of July!