Originally
published by Banker & Tradesman on October 15, 2023
at bankerandtradesman.com/no-september-inventory-bump-on-cape-cod.
End of Summer Season Brings Little Relief This
Year
Cape Cod real estate brokers are hoping for a stronger
fourth-quarter showing after a lackluster first nine months of
2023.
Anecdotally, a number of industry players say they’re
seeing a somewhat impressive post-Labor Day bump in the number of
homes for sale on the rustic peninsula, potentially reversing an
18-months trend of falling home sales across Barnstable County.
“We’ve had a big jump [in listings] so far this
fall,” said Katie Clancy, sales vice president of William
Raveis Real Estate in Yarmouthport. “We’re expecting a
stronger end-of-year finish.”
Daneen Law, a real estate associate at Gibson Sotheby’s
International Realty in Orleans, is also seeing signs of a
potentially stronger inventory towards the end of 2023, noting that
754 homes were listed for sale as of Oct. 10, about double the
number listed as of early 2022.
Individual Cape brokers may well be seeing small, and sometimes
even large, boosts in listings post-Labor Day, a traditionally
strong time for the Cape real estate market, after summer rentals
end and vacationers leave in droves.
But the latest real estate stats from the Cape Cod and Islands
Association of Realtors aren’t picking up what agents are
anecdotally seeing – at least not yet.
Listings Down, Prices Up Modestly
According to CCIAOR data for Barnstable County, pending sales of
singled-family homes were up 1.1 percent in September compared to
the same month a year ago, but new single-family listings stood at
336 in September, down 11.1 percent compared to a year ago.
For condominiums on the peninsula, pending sales were down 4.3
percent in September, with new listings up by 4.5 percent, off a
relatively small base of 88 listings in September 2022.
The bottom line: At least as of the end of September, the fall
Cape market looked roughly the same as the winter, spring and
summer markets.
According to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker
& Tradesman, single-family home sales in Barnstable County had
fallen 23 percent through Aug. 31. There were noticeably large
year-to-date sales declines in the villages of Barnstable (down
54.5 percent compared to a year ago) and Hyannis (down 42.1
percent) in the city of Barnstable, and in the town of Dennis (down
40 percent).
Meanwhile, the median single-family sale price increases were
modest, at least by recent Cape standards, hitting $661,500, up 3.8
percent through Aug. 31 year-over-year. Five of Barnstable
County’s 20 towns actually saw year-to-date price decreases
through August, according to The Warren Group – Brewster,
Harwich, Mashpee, Marstons Mills and Truro.
Across the Cape, condo sales were down 24.5 percent during the
first eight months of 2023, The Warren Group said, compared to the
same period last year. But the median condo sale price outperformed
single-family prices, rising by 6.7 percent to $433,750 through the
end of August.
Optimism for Q4
Laura Clements, owner-broker of Cove Road Real Estate in
Orleans, said she’s seen strong activity in general in the
Cape towns she covers – and she’s also seen a small
increase in her firm’s listings of late.
“There’s still a lot of buyers out there,”
said Clements. “I’m still seeing multiple bids on
homes.”
This past spring’s market was “fairly
healthy,” but the summer market was “ridiculously
slow” in terms of sales, she said.
In talking to other real estate agents and brokers across the
Cape, Clements said she’s “very, very encouraged”
to hear that there may be a boost in Cape listings late this year
and early 2024.
“I think we’re going to see an uptick in
sales” later in the fourth quarter, she said.
Still, Cape industry players agree: A seller has to be very
careful when setting initial asking prices. Ask for too much, and a
home may sit for a while on the market, they say.
Clancy of William Raveis in Yarmouthport said a condo in Dennis
recently went on the market too high, at $399,000, and ended up
sitting unsold for 3 weeks. The asking price has recently been
lowered to $350,000 in the hope of selling it soon.
“If a place is priced right and if it’s what people
want, it will go fast,” she said. “But if it’s
mispriced, it simply won’t sell.”
Sellers Must Curb Expectations
As for inventory in the Cape market, Clancy said a large
percentage of properties for sale are owned by those who, for
whatever reasons, are compelled to sell their houses or condos.
But if they can avoid selling now – with no other
properties to buy for themselves – they’ll “just
keep what they already have,” she said.
Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty’s Law
said homes in the $500,000 to $600,000 range still attract intense
interest from buyers on the Cape, often generating multiple bids.
Ocean-front homes are also in huge demand.
Overall, though, the market just hasn’t performed as well
as it has in the past this year, said Law. While demand is still
strong, higher interest rates have discouraged many potential
buyers.
“That past feverish feeling has definitely waned,”
she said.
As a result, sellers have to be “more realistic,”
even though it’s still a seller’s market, said Law.
“Their expectations [for prices] have to be curbed a
bit,” she said.
She noted that a three-bedroom home in East Orleans came on the
market in late August at $1.7 million – and hasn’t
sold. Now the seller is considering an asking-price cut to lure in
buyers.
Largely because of the hesitation of cost-conscious buyers, Law
said she sees more price reductions heading into the final months
of 2023.
“I’m see an overall leveling off in prices,”
she said.