Key West Real Estate Sales Report - First Five Months of 2019

I wrote a blog on June 2, 2018 where I compared single family homes sales in the Old Town and Casa Marina areas of Key West for the first five months between 2013 to 2018.  My memory button got June and July confused in 2019 as I thought today would be the anniversary of my prior post. I will therefor use the Wayback machine to bring readers up to date (as of June 1, 2019).

I have written several blogs about my growing pessimism over the declining number of home sales and the continuing escalation of housing prices.  I repeated the process I used in the 2018 blog.

I performed a simple but strict search of single family home sales in the Old Town and Casa Marina areas by number of units sold, average price paid, and price per square foot for the seasonal time period of  January 1 to June 1, 2019.

I assumed that sales prices had risen dramatically but suspected sales would there would be fewer sales in each area in 2018.

CASA MARIA

2018                      7             1,413,333                    728

2019                      5             1,362,600                    616

Not only were there fewer sales in 2019, but the average sale price and the price per square foot declined. This can be explained by the fact that three of the five sales were for homes that sold under $1,000,000.  The most expensive house only sold for $2,475,000 or $722 per square foot.

CASA MARINA Current Inventory of Unsold Single Family Homes on the Market

Number            18         Avg List Price $2,146,550    Price Per Sq Ft  $922

OLD TOWN

2018                      40                  1,257,904            789

2019                      61                  1,181,536            816

The total number of sales increased but the average sales price decreased. The price per square foot did increase, however. Nineteen of the houses sold were located in the Bahama Village section of Old Town.  Most of those houses were fixers. I sold the least expensive house (above) for $350,000. It is definitely a fixer - if there is any fixing it.  The two highest priced houses in Bahama Village sold for $1,300,000 (new construction in 2008) and $1,732,000 (new construction in 2018 located across the street from public housing). While Old Town may be the preference for buyers seeking a place in Key West, many are opting to find a place they can purchase at a decent price, renovate, and create the house they want rather than buying some prior owners vision.

Twenty-three of the houses sold for more than $1,000,000. Seven of those sold in excess of $2,000,000.  The highest priced home was 101 Admirals Lane in the Truman Annex. It sold for $5,870,000.  

OLD TOWN Current Inventory of Single Family Homes on the Market

Number                   70        Avg List Price $1,877,261        Price Per Sq Ft  $891

I checked the average list price twice. I only used Old Town and did not include the Meadows or Sunset Key. Several of the current Old Town listings have been on the market for over two years. Some of those have challenging locations. Some are over-priced. Some do not have off street parking and buyers are resisting paying over a million dollars for a house without parking. Some are wonderfully renovated and are waiting for buyers with money to return to Key West.

Selling season is over. There have been numerous downward price adjustments since the start of this year. I think it's a good time for buyers with cash to come to Key West to test the market.