Rita Hayworth and Dick Haymes at the Casa Marina Resort in Key West - 1954 |
Let's look at the sales of houses and condos & town homes for the first ten months of 2015 and 2016. Some readers may have seen a recent sales report generated by the Key West Association of Realtors. That report includes home sales for homes in our sales area which extends beyond Shark Key. My search is limited to areas between Key West and Shark Key.
2015 Total Single Family Homes SOLD 312
Lowest Price: $222,500 Median Price: $791,987 Highest Price: $5,000,000
2016 Total Single Family Homes SOLD 250
Lowest Price: $168,000 Median Price: $699,000 Highest Price: $6,225,000
2015 Total Condos and Town Homes 225
Lowest Price: $160,650 Median Price: $380,000 Highest Price: $2,300,000
2016 Total Condos and Town Homes 210
Lowest Price: $140,000 Median Price: $450,000 Highest Price: $2,100,000
There is an upward shifting price buyers are willing to pay for better homes in our market. For readers outside of Key West is may seem incredulous but it is true that a starter home or a fixer-upper will likely cost about $500,000. And there are very few houses priced that low.
I did a second search to determine how many single family homes sold in 2015 and 2016 (from January 1 to November 3) with price spreads in the one to two million range, two million to three million, and over three million. The results are amazing.
2015 Single Family Homes SOLD by Price
$1,000,000 to $2,000,000: 65
$2,000,000 to $3,000,000: 8
$3,000,000 and beyond: 3
Total: 76
2016 Single Family Homes SOLD by Price
$1,000,000 to $2,000,000: 47
$2,000,000 to $3,000,000: 13
$3,000,000 and beyond: 9
Total: 69
I read these statistics to show we are in a price downturn. I think our market is over-priced and that has caused the decline in the total number of sales. We may also be sharing in the national decline in total home sales reported on September 22, 2016 by the National Association of Realtors®. Our market is different than most of America because we have a limited land mass and severe governmental restriction of building new housing. A good portion of the Key West market involves the resale of historic old homes. Buyers in all price ranges are impacted by the governmental rules and regulations which in my opinion have a depressing effect on the price buyers are willing to pay for a home. We are now in the home stretch. Maybe the last two months of sales will exhibit a tremendous surge in home sales and upward price spikes.