The first week of February generated a handful of new contracts in our local comparative real estate market, and we’re starting to see a few more new and returning listings on our MLS in anticipation of the upcoming spring buying season. Two factors which will continue to influence our comparative market are mortgage rates and property insurance. Mortgage rates have remained close to the 7% range so far in 2025, but the 30 yr fixed rate mortgage just saw its first decline in 6 weeks. Borrowing costs could remain elevated or fluctuate slightly in the near term, but there is some hope that inflation will moderate in the second half of this year, which would hopefully bring further relief for rates. On the subject of insurance, after a few recent years of rate hikes we are finally starting to see some stabilization in the Florida insurance market. Here’s an informative link and video from HH Insurance summarizing where we’ve been and where we’re heading with our state’s insurance market. Back to our local market, there has been only 1 recorded sale since our last weekly update on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor:
- 634 Seacliff Drive – The 1 recorded residential sale of the week comes from the Seacliffs HOA located on the north Cape near the St. Joseph Peninsula state park entrance. This 4 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom, 1,944 sq ft fully furnished townhome was built in 1999 with an elevator and Gulf views. The HOA offers a community pool, playground, and deeded beach access via elevated boardwalk. The attached unit was on the market for most of 2024, originally asking $660,000 before being reduced down to $599,000, and it just sold for $579,000 cash with the buyer receiving a $9K credit for a necessary elevator repair. The sellers had owned this property since 2015 when they paid $235,000.
5 newly executed contracts is the most we’ve seen in a week in our comparative market since mid-November. 3 homes and 2 lots are now under contract with contingencies, and hopefully all 5 will make it to the closing table soon. There were 4 more price reductions on a couple of lots and 2 south Cape homes in the last 7 days.
On the subject of new listings, 9 residential listings and 10 vacant lots were added to our relevant inventory this week. Some are new listings and others are returning to our active market after expiring in late 2024. Each of our inventory counts are up 7 from last week with 114 homes for sale and 113 vacant lots available on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. That’s all for this week – thanks for reading the weekly blog and have a great weekend!
No more ice on the beach this week, as temps were back in the 70s in Gulf County