provided by Sarah Ashton, Broker Associate
Ashton Kirchner Group, Keller Williams Realty
This Summer feels different than our Summers of the recent past. The usual bustle of Summer visitors is missing as is the usual number of residents going about their day. It is quiet in those regards. There is still the pulse of workers coming to do their best to get us put back together.
The quiet does not reflect our current Real Estate market. There continues to be properties listed on Sanibel and properties going under contract. As property owners work through insurance and repair challenges, they are asking and answering, “should I stay or should I go”? Those deciding to go and to sell their appropriately priced properties are waiting a bit longer for offers but are finding willing buyers.
There are currently just over 100 single family homes for sale on Sanibel. Still a historically low number. Through June of 2023 there have been 166 closed sales, the second highest number since 2021 – the height of the pandemic real estate boom. That is a good number of single family home sales.
The Sanibel condo market currently has roughly 60 units for sale and there have been 64 closed condo sales through June 2023. This is significantly lower than our 2021 all time high of 185 condo sales through June of that year. It is reflective of the challenges Condos are having getting back together after the devastating destruction of Ian and the reluctance of Condo buyers to gamble on the future possible assessments and an unknown timeline for occupancy.
Due to the de-constructed state of many of the homes and condos, a large proportion of the successful sales are Cash sales with no financing. This is largely the only means to purchase these properties. Lenders may have construction financing available at higher rates but you still run into the insurance debacle currently dictating the environment. There are fewer options for insurance providers who will even look at a property on the island and if they do, the rates are prohibitively high. In time, this too should ease as it did after the insurance squeeze after Hurricane Charlie in 2004.
All this spells out an encouraging future for Island property sales. If at one of the most challenging Real Estate environments, we are seeing a healthy market for our island properties, while our island is still in the early stages of recovery, it would seem that as we move forward, there will be even more demand and likely higher prices. It will all take time and my crystal ball still has muck on it, but my money is on a continued recovery of the island, and along with it a continued improvement in the Island property market.
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