Summer Review:
July and August continued many recent trends in Cape Cod real estate. With the start of the fall market and some relevant economic trends at hand, let's take a look.
Inventory is building in certain price ranges... Overall inventory of single family homes is at it's highest since November 2020. However most of this [...]
Well folks, the sleigh ride is over. For the first time since 2019, last year concluded on something of a mixed note for the Cape Cod Real Estate market. Cape homes set a new record 12-month high of $679,750 in December of 2023, up an eye-watering 66% from $410,000 in December 2019. But if we look closer, we see that prices from November [...]
April Review:
The Cape Cod real estate market remains crazy. Median price continues to climb and metrics such as inventory and new listings remain low. Don't be deceived by the bump in inventory between March and April either. True enough there were 324 single family homes for sale at the end of April; however, fewer than 100 of those [...]
We’ve spilled gallons of ink this year describing how difficult the market is for buyers and speculating about the policy and housing production solutions needed to turn things around. But what about buyers who need to buy something right now? Are they out of luck? Absolutely not!! The market may be crazy, but there is a method to the [...]
Every few years it is worth evaluating the costs and benefits of paying off your mortgage early. We'll discuss four scenarios with a home purchased for $450,000, 20% down and 2.75% interest on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. For the purposes of this exercise we will be calculating principal and interest payments and not including mortgage [...]
Are you interested in the health of the Cape Cod real estate market? How it compares to Massachusetts' real estate trends? We have had some time to review the market data from 2019 and have some interesting findings to report. We'll take a few key points and break them [...]
Year over year the inventory is up 6.1% and has also been steadily increasing since January. With new listings down from last year and flat compared to last month we will be keeping an eye on how this will affect inventory going forward though. What will also be influencing the market for the foreseeable future is the [...]
Median Sales prices continue to climb in both the single family and condominium markets and, as a result, we saw a considerable drop in the affordability index for Barnstable County in October. The inventory of homes dropped less than 2% since September and the current months of inventory, 6.6, is considered a healthy [...]
After examining the process of selling on Cape Cod, it is now time for a buyer's perspective. For more information on selling your home, start at Part 1 of the series here.
"That's wonderful news! Owning a home is a dream many people want to realize and we take great pride [...]
Our goal in this series is it to help you understand how we interpret markets on the Cape and how this informs our recommendations when developing pricing strategies. For our final installment we will evaluate the Cape Cod market for the past 3 years (starting in October 2014).
First the inventory of single family homes has been dropping over the past few years. This factor coupled with rising median sales prices and fewer days on market indicate an accelerating market in Barnstable County. Another interesting factor to note is the significant decrease in homes for sale over the past year and that 2017 did not show as stark a seasonal bump in inventory as is typical. Additionally the affordability index is trending towards less affordability on Cape Cod.
What's our take? If you are thinking of buying, our advice is not to wait. Interest rates are at historic lows and, if the current market trend continues, homes will continue to become gradually more expensive. The long-term news isn't all bad, though - there are numerous local, state, and federal initiatives in the works which plan to ease the affordability pinch here on the Cape. For more information, check out this local housing forum featuring none other than our own Ned Chatelain. But you don't have to wait for new programs to buy something - give us a call and we can put you in touch with the top-notch mortgage brokers we work with who can walk you through low-downpayment and no-downpayment mortgages, first time home-buyer programs, or local lending incentives that can make the difference between buying this year or buying in three years.
On the other hand, If you are thinking of selling, this is good news for you. The Spring is an excellent time to get your house on the market and winter is the best time to get it ready. Give us a call today if you are interested in a home valuation and comparative market analysis.