Thursday, July 15, 2021

Summer Doldrums

Back to my regular posting after an enjoyable summer break to my favorite islands. Nothing works quite like fresh conch to retune my taste apparatus.

Inventory in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral has reversed it's slide and is slowly increasing with a total of 66 existing units for sale this morning. We dipped as low as 34 total units for sale a couple of months ago. It appears that the increase is due in part to slowed sales. Thirty condo and townhome units have gone under contract in the first two weeks of July after closing a remarkable 84 units in the month of June. Sixteen of those sold for at least a half million dollars. There are only 12 existing units for sale in that price range at the moment. That is good news for the developer of The Surf oceanfront condos downtown Cocoa Beach. Buyers looking for a new luxury oceanfront unit can choose from the three remaining units left there at prices between $1.45 MM and $1.625 MM.

Single family home inventory has recovered somewhat with 27 homes for sale today in our two cities. There are another eight offered as pre-construction in the mysterious riverfront development in south Cocoa Beach. Several new houses there have already recorded as closed in the MLS yet none have been built nor has construction begun. Anyone?

Eighteen single family homes closed in June, all but two of them in Cocoa Beach. Highest price was for a massive, new non-waterfront home on the Cocoa Beach Country Club golf course that closed for $1,300,000. Lowest price paid was $390,000 for a little 1957 vintage 3/2 in south Cocoa Beach with 1213 square feet.

I am being asked almost daily about my thoughts on the condo market after the tragic condo collapse in Surfside. I have more questions than opinions. Will insurance companies continue to renew policies for older buildings and if so, at the same prices? Will condo associations become more forceful in timely assessing for and initiating needed concrete repairs? Will buyers avoid older buildings? Will this affect demand and thus prices for units in older buildings? Will prices for units in newer buildings go up? I welcome readers' thoughts on this. You can email me anonymously with your thoughts.

“Thanks to everyone who came into my life and made it better. And thanks to the ones who walked out and made it amazing.” __Kate