Key West Properties: 2018 key west real estate sales report

It is that time of year to look back to take a look at Key West real estate sales for 2018. As in years past I only look at real estate sales in Key West and this year I did not venture off the island even as far as Stock Island or the golf course. I did, however, include the couple of sales on Sunset Key.

We started the 2018 real estate sales year not knowing how the buying public would respond to the prospect of buying a home in Key West after all the damage Hurricane IRMA inflicted on the Lower Keys. TV broadcasts from CNN and NBC painted a bleak picture of the hurricane damaged Keys. Follow-up broadcast by NBC mistakenly implied that Key West was equally impacted as other areas. In fact only one house in Old Town was lost as a result of Irma. I think owner opted to build a new house rather than repair the damaged one.

I do know we had significant tree damage. We lost a lot of canopy trees. The Key West skyline looked barren for a month or so after Irma. But then the trees started to regenerate their leaves. The Royal Poincianas which bloom in May and June had a second bloom in late October or November. The Mahoganies sprouted odd looking clusters of leaves. In January 2019 all the trees look normal once again.

Tourists came back to Key West for Fantasy Fest and later Christmas in 2017. I spoke to many people who were both surprised Key West had been spared any significant home damage. There remained a lingering belief that Key West had been hit by Irma even though that wasn't really the case. More tourists came and spread the word Key West was okay. By Christmas 2018 the Key West tourist rush was bigger than ever. Because so many Lower Keys locals lost their homes in Irma, many bought up the inventory of lower and mid-range priced homes. Some of those sales closed in late 2017 and continued into 2018. Those sales nudged housing prices up.

There were a total of 302 single family home sales in Key West in 2018 at an average sold price of $1,009,739 or $635 per sq ft. I thought it would be interesting to compare 2013 real estate sales to 2018. We had 257 single family home sales in 2013 with an average sales price of $709,605 at $411 per sq ft.

The least expensive home sold in 2018 was located at 313 Catherine Street in Bahama Village section of Old Town. It was a 365 sq ft one bedroom which the listing agent described as an "artist's retreat". It sold for $299,000 at $819 per sq ft. See photo below.

The most expensive home that sold was located at 908 Fleming Street. It sold for $5,000,000. The house and other buildings totaled 2,560 square feet and sat on an 18,383 square foot lot. See photo below which shows the Polynesian style open dining area and outdoor kitchen located in a separate structure away from the main house.

The 908 Fleming property had separate guest cottages located at 515-517 Margaret Street which sold to a separate buyer for $1,340,000 or $827 per sq ft. See photo below.

My experience has been that most of the sales in Old Town are not for primary residences but instead as second or third homes. There were 113 single family homes sold in Old Town in 2018 for an average price of $1,248,225 or $798 per sq ft. Compare that to 2013 where there were 114 single family sales in 2013 with an average sales price of $798,684 or per foot price of $513.

The second most popular area for second home buyers is the Casa Marina Area which is that section of town located south of United Street between White Street to the east and ending at the Reach Resort on Vernon Street (location of Louie's Backyard and Dog Beach). The Atlantic Ocean is the southern boundary of the Casa Marina Area. Most homes in this area sit on large lots of 5,000 sq ft or larger and are newer in construction and often larger in size than homes in Old Town.

There were 24 single family home sales in the Casa Marina in 2018. The average home sale was priced at $1,310,646 or $678 per sq ft. By comparison there were 9 single family home sales in 2013 with an average sold price of $1,450,111 or $650 per sq ft. The east expensive sale in 2018 was a bank foreclosed property at 1314 Whalton Street which sold for $420,000. That building was taken down where footings for a home have been poured. 1000 Johnson Street was the most expensive home that sold at $3,000,000 which equates to $755 per sq ft for this 3971 sq ft home on an 11,450 sq ft lot. See photos below of Whalton and Johnson properties in that order.

I moved to the Casa Marina Area in 1995 and have lived in the same home since. I have watched most of the houses being renovated and saw a few come down and new ones built. The property values continue to rise. The air is still fresh and the skies sunny throughout most of the year. It is a good place to live.

If you are thinking about buying a home in Key West and do not have a Realtor, please consider contacting me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.