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It is time once again for our tip of the hat to Robin Leach, the late host of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," as we offer up another toast of champagne wishes and caviar dreams by taking a look back at the booming Cape Coral luxury home market in the first quarter of 2022. With a record number of luxury home sales in the books during the first three months of this year, we have seen a sudden surge in the number of luxury homes being listed for sale in the Cape. We will have the details on that below, along with our thoughts about the possible reasons behind it.
For the record, our definition of the single-family luxury home market segment in the Cape consists of homes that have sold for $1 million and above.
As noted above, Cape Coral luxury home sales set a record pace during the first quarter of 2022, with a total of 115 closed sales at prices ranging from $1 million to $4.3 million. These 115 luxury sales made up a 6.6 percent share of the 1,732 record total number of single-family home sales in the Cape over the first three months of this year. This compares to a total of 44 first quarter luxury home sales in 2021, which made up a 2.8 percent share of the 1,577 total first quarter sales last year, and only 12 first quarter luxury sales for a 0.97 percent share of the 1,242 total first quarter sales back in 2020.
In addition, the 115 first quarter sales of this year actually topped the 111 closed luxury home sales in the Cape over the first six months of 2021, and it equaled 46.9 percent of the 245 total closed luxury home sales for the entire year of 2021. The total of 245 luxury home sales in 2021 equaled a 3.5 percent share of the record 7,043 total sales in the Cape that year, which helps to illustrate the dynamic shifts that have occurred in our high-end home sales over the past year. So, to put it mildly, we have had an absolutely amazing first three months of the year for Cape Coral luxury home sales!
Next, here is a look at the current active listings and pipeline of pending sales. As of April 12, there were a total of 519 single-family homes listed for sale through a Realtor in the Multiple Listing Service in Cape Coral, with 95 of these listings, or 18.3 percent priced in our luxury home segment of $1 million and above. We currently have 1,024 single-family homes in the Cape under contract with buyers as pending sales, with a total of 83 of these pending sales, or 8.1 percent at prices of $1 million and above. And as we have noted above, in the first three months of this year, 115 of the 1,732 total closed home sales in the Cape, or 6.6 percent, came in at $1 million and above. At the other end of the price spectrum, we had a total of 68 single-family homes in the Cape listed in the MLS at $400,000 and below, with only four homes on the market for under $300,000. The lowest priced home was listed for $239,500 and the highest priced listing was still at $5.995 million. The median list price came in at $595,500.
Looking back just three weeks ago on March 22, there were 463 active listings in the MLS for single-family homes in the Cape at prices ranging from $275,000 to $5.995 million with a median list price of $569,900. At that time, there were 80 homes listed for $1 million and above, and 68 homes priced under $400,000. There were also a total of 1,004 pending sales in the pipeline on March 22. So over the last three weeks we have seen a 12.1 percent increase in the total number of active listings, with an 18.8 percent increase in our million dollar-plus luxury home listings. Overall pending sales for single-family homes in the Cape have only increased by about 2 percent over the past three weeks.
In the past three months, the number of million dollar-plus homes listed for sale in Cape Coral has tended to range between 70 to 83 listings, so this recent increase to 95 listings in the MLS caught our attention. Maybe it's nothing more than people seeing their neighbor's homes fetching higher prices and deciding to get in on the party. But not coincidentally, in the past month or so there has been a lot more talk about raging inflation, rising mortgage interest rates, looming food shortages and risky asset bubbles driven by the loose monetary policies of Central Banks from around the world. Add in the impact of the insanity from the war in Ukraine and there is an ever-growing chorus of economic pundits saying they believe the Jerome Powell-led Federal Reserve has lost all control of inflation and the economy. The feeling seems to be that in order to regain control, the Fed’s late arriving corrective actions are increasing the odds they will be forced to drive the economy into a severe recession, or something rivaling a 1970s-style Stagflation, in order to save us.
With "demand destruction" now the latest economic buzzword being bandied about in the financial news, we wonder if one of the reasons our abnormally low level of market supply has been edging higher has to do with a growing sense that a market top is upon us? Along these lines, the National Association of Realtors has been pointing to the rapid rise in mortgage interest rates this year as one reason there is a growing affordability crisis that it estimates has led to millions of Americans being priced out of the housing market. To their point, interest rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages topped 5 percent earlier this week, after beginning this year at around 3 percent. We are seeing early hints of a slowdown locally, but there will be a lag time in the market numbers before confirming a shifting trend.
Getting back to our luxury market, the highest-priced home sale that closed in the first quarter of this year was for a riverfront home on an oversized 0.32 acre lot in the Savona neighborhood in the Southeast Cape. This five-bedroom, 4 1/2-bathroom home was built in 2016 with 4,044 square feet of living area, complete with a custom designed infinity edge pool featuring a glass wall providing a unique underwater view facing the river. The outdoor space of this contemporary designed Smart Home also contained a summer kitchen and multiple balconies providing great views of the river, along with a dock and a 10,000-pound boat lift. The interior of the home has an open and bright layout with a grand family room and a stone wall with a fireplace. The upgraded kitchen included quartz countertops and dual ovens. There was also a loft with a great game room area and a mini-kitchen, plus much more.
The recent seller was the original owner who had the home built after buying the vacant lot for $570,000 in June 2014. They listed the home for sale at $4,299,999 on Oct. 18, 2021, and it went under contract with a buyer after 84 days on the market, before closing the sale for $4.3 million on Jan. 26 of this year. As an interesting side note, back in April 2005, the vacant lot was sold for $1 million and that buyer tried to flip the lot for $1.595 million from December 2005 through December 2006, without any success, before losing the lot in a foreclosure sale for $500,000 in December 2008.
The sales data for this article was obtained from the Florida Realtors Multiple Listing Service Matrix for Lee County, Fla., as of April 11, 2022, unless otherwise noted. It was compiled by Bob and Geri Quinn and it includes information specifically for Cape Coral single-family homes, and does not include condominiums, 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 with Geri as a full-time Realtor in 2014. Their real estate practice is mainly focused on Cape Coral residential property and vacant lots.