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Before we get into the January numbers for the Cape Coral condominium market, we wanted to provide a brief update about our recent discussions about the economy, interest rates and inflation, and their potential impact on our real estate market.
It has been widely assumed by most economic experts that the Jerome Powell-led Federal Reserve will be embarking on a major and prolonged change to its long running easy monetary policies at the upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in mid-March. Many of these "experts" have been predicting the Fed would raise the Federal Funds Rate by one-half of one percent on March 16, and then continue raising interest rates by at least 25 basis points another four to seven times this year.
In simple terms, the Fed will be attempting to fix the rampant level of "transitory" inflation it has largely created with the zero interest rate policies, known as "ZIRP," without crashing the stock and housing markets.
We have also referenced a much smaller group of economic and market experts who have been predicting geopolitical tensions would cause a major spike in oil prices resulting in a surge in inflation that would likely lead to a global recession. This price spike has occurred this week as the situation between Russia and Ukraine seems to have spiraled out of control and oil prices have rocketed from around an already high $92 per barrel, to in excess of $104 per barrel. As this group of experts has been predicting, this escalating situation may temporarily "bail-out" the Fed and allow it to delay its policy shift towards higher interest rates. Unfortunately, this will also likely leave Main Street dealing with another wave of raging inflation, as we await the potential impact on our economy and real estate market.
In the meantime, interest rates have declined due to a "flight to quality," as money has shifted to the perceived safe haven of the U.S. Treasury market. This should be beneficial to real estate for now. As noted below, our condo market has a very limited number of active listings, and there were some nuances in closed sales and median sales prices between our different market segments, although things have remained generally strong versus 2021.
As of Tuesday, March 1, there were 39 active Cape Coral condominium listings through a Realtor in the Multiple Listing Service. The current lowest priced condo in the Cape was a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit built in 1983 with 700 square feet of living area and no amenities listed for $139,000. Our second lowest priced condo is at $160,000 and there are only a total of three condo units priced under $200,000 in the Cape.
The highest-priced condo is a riverfront penthouse unit in the Southeast Cape that has been on the market for 228 days and it just had a price reduction to $959,000. Our next highest priced condo comes in at $918,000 in Tarpon Landings, while everything else in our market is listed for under $700,000.
The median list price for condos in the Cape is $320,000. There are currently 99 Cape Coral condos under contract with buyers as pending sales ranging from $130,000 to $980,000. There were no condos showing in the MLS as short sales or foreclosures.
Here is a snapshot of some of the past numbers for active condo listings in the Cape, which provides an interesting illustration of our market. A month ago on Feb. 1, there were only 33 condos listed for sale through a Realtor in the MLS at prices ranging from $160,000 to $995,000 (now reduced to $959,000 as noted above) with 31 of these 33 condos listed for under $600,000. The median list price for these 33 condos was $309,900 and five of these 33 condos had list prices under $200,000. Back on July 5, 2021, there were 47 Cape Coral condos listed for sale in the MLS ranging from $119,900 to $569,000. A total of 20 of these units were listed for $200,000 or less, and the median list price for Cape Coral condos stood at $225,500. Finally, going back to Jan. 31, 2021, there were 149 condos listed for sale in the Cape at prices ranging from $99,000 to $1.875 million.
In the overall Cape condo market, there were 52 closed sales in the month of January, which was 1.9 percent lower than the 53 closed condo sales in January 2021, and 8.8 percent below the 57 sales in December. The January median sales price came in at $276,000 for the overall Cape Coral condo market, which was 45.3 percent above the $189,900 posted in January 2021, and 20.1 percent higher than the $229,900 in December. The overall monthly supply of unsold condos in the Cape came in at 3 months in January, which was 40 percent lower than the 5 months of supply registered in January of 2021, but 50 percent above the 2 months of unsold supply in December.
Gulf access canal condos
In the Cape Coral gulf access canal condo segment, which includes all "saltwater" canal condos, there were 27 closed sales in January, which was 8 percent higher than the 25 condos sold in January 2021, and 28.6 percent above the 21 sales in December. The January median sales price came in at $285,000 in this segment, which was 42.9 percent above the $199,500 posted in January 2021, and 3.6 percent higher than the $275,000 in December. The level of unsold supply came in at 2 months in January, which was 60 percent less than the 5 months of supply in January 2021, and 33.33 percent below the 3 months of unsold supply in December.
Direct sailboat access canal condos
In the Cape Coral direct sailboat access canal condo segment, which is a subgroup of gulf access condos where boaters have no bridges to go under in the canal system to reach open water, there were 16 closed sales in January. This was even with the 16 condos sold in January 2021, but 60 percent above the 10 condos sold in December. The January median sales price came in at $322,500 in this segment, or 43.2 percent above the $225,250 posted in January 2021, but down 35.8 percent from the spike up to $502,500 in December. The level of unsold supply came in at 3 months in January, which was 25 percent less than the 4 months of supply in both January of 2021, and in this past December.
Dry lot condos
In the Cape Coral dry lot (non-canal) condo segment, there were 17 closed sales in January, which was 15 percent lower than the 20 condos sold in January 2021, and 41.4 percent below the 29 sales in December. The January median sales price came in at $205,000 in this condo segment, which was 73 percent above the $118,500 posted in January 2021, and 10.8 percent more than the $185,000 in December. The level of unsold supply for our dry lot condos came in at 3 months in January, which was 57.1 percent less than the 7 months of supply in January 2021, but 200 percent above the 1 month of unsold supply in December.
The sales data for this article was obtained from the Florida Realtors Multiple Listing Service Matrix for Lee County, Fla., as of Feb. 25, 2022, unless otherwise noted. It was compiled by Bob and Geri Quinn and it includes information specifically for Cape Coral condominiums, townhouses and villas, and it does not include any single-family homes, short sales or foreclosures. The data and statistics are believed to be reliable, however, they could be updated and revised periodically, and are subject to change without notice. The Quinns are a husband and wife real estate team with the RE/MAX Realty Team office in Cape Coral. They have lived in Cape Coral for over 42 years. Geri has been a full-time Realtor since 2005, and Bob joined Geri as a full-time Realtor in 2014. Their real estate practice is mainly focused on Cape Coral residential property and vacant lots.