Photo above was taken from the top floor of Xanadu looking south towards downtown Cocoa Beach. The Pig and Whistle Pub is the brown roof building in the dead center of the shot. The white buildings on the river in the top left are Harbor Isles with Merritt Island off in the distance.
Sorry for the lag between posts as I've been traveling. We are back on the regular schedule now.
Action in the Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral condo market has been strong so far this month with 46 accepted contracts since June 1. Fourteen of those were short sales and a few others were foreclosures. Only 2 of the units were asking above $500,000. With sales at Meridian winding down to the last few developer units I expect the over-$500,000 sales to drop off the cliff. Of the fourteen condo sales over $500,000 so far in 2009, eight were Meridian units. That leaves us with a rest-of-the-market sales rate of one half-million-dollar-plus condo per month. That's with an inventory this morning of 97 units, eight years worth not even factoring in the shadow developer inventory which will easily swell that number by 50% or more. Not good news for the luxury condo market.
We have had an impressive 25 closed condo sales so far in June, two over $500,000, both at Meridian. Twenty of the thirty sold for less than $230,000. That paints a pretty clear picture of our market. If I gave any credence to median price numbers that metric would look horrific year over year. The bright spot in all this is the fact that so many units are selling despite significant hurdles with financing and the difficulty of bringing a short sale to the closing table.
Only one single family home has closed this month in our market, a direct Banana River home on Jack Drive that closed for $450,000. Another three went under contract since the 1st.
Of the sales of note so far this month, my favorite has to be the Fountain Cove 3rd floor unit that closed Monday for $185,000. I presented an offer exactly one year ago today on this unit for $190,000 when it was listed for $243,500. Not only did the listing agent rudely dismiss the substantiating comps we included with our offer, she actually called back after the seller refused to counter to deliver a second message from the sellers, "Tell them to go buy another condo." We did. You can read the entire sadly funny exchange here. Others of note included;
- A five year old top floor, 1918 sq.ft. Solana on the River closed for $215,000 as a short sale.
- A 2 year old 3/2 Puerto del Rio in Cape Canaveral with 1862 sq.ft. sold for $205,000 as a short sale.
- A direct river River Bend 3/2 with 2050 sq.ft. and a boat slip in south Cocoa Beach was stolen for $260,000.
MLS inventory June 18, 2009 Cocoa Beach & Cape Canaveral
Condos, all prices_____681
over $500,000_________97 - 14 sold since New Year's Day
Single family homes____102
over $500,000_________39
“If you can't make it good, at least make it look good.”
_________________Bill Gates
