June Market Report: Cape Market Has Record-Breaking Month
July 16, 2020 Research & Data
Cape Cod real estate broke records in June. The amount of homes that went ‘pending’, which means under contract and contingencies have been removed, reached an all-time high in June with 781 homes and condominiums entering the pending status. This continued a more than month-long trend of increased activity in the Cape Cod market as real estate continues to recover from the impacts of the coronavirus and buyers are finding refuge and respite on Cape Cod.
“Pending is a key metric as it shows the activity in the market and sets up busy months in July and August for closed home sales. Quite simply, the buyer demand and historically low level of available homes for sale we are seeing on the Cape right now is unprecedented, but there are still key questions that need to be answered as we move forward to see if this is going to be an ongoing trend or temporary spike,” said Ryan Castle, Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS (CCIAOR).
The Cape Cod market experienced decreased activity for the first ten weeks of coronavirus restrictions, but that has been followed by eight straight weeks of high levels of buying activity.
“At the start of July, we moved out of pent up demand and into new demand. We will be tracking it to see how long this continues, as we are finding that buyers are reevaluating their life and deciding to make a work from home scenario work. We, as a community need to support them to turn them from temporary work-from-home second home folks into permanent work-from-home Cape residents.” Castle noted
Sales pending at the end of June were 650 for single-family homes and 131 for condominiums – a 76.2 percent increase for single-family and a 32.3 percent increase for condominiums, which will show up in closed home sales in the coming months. Last June, there were 369 pending single-family homes and 99 pending condominiums. The 650 pending single-family home sales are a record high number since the Cape Cod & Islands Multiple Listing Service began recording computerized data.
Sales were slightly down from 2019 levels for June due to the economic and mobility restrictions on the market in March and April due to the coronavirus, which falls in line with previously released numbers of pending sales for prior months.
According to preliminary data released by the Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS® (CCIAOR), 506 homes sold in June, 419 single-family homes and 87 condominiums. Median sales price was $475,000 for single-family homes and $326,000 for condominiums. Last June, 532 homes (428 single-family homes and 104 condos) sold at a median price of $449,000 for single-family homes and $315,000 for condominiums.
New listings in June for single-family homes were 533 and 130 for condominiums. This is a 0.8 percent increase, and a 6.5 percent decrease respectively from last June, which had 529 new listings for single-family homes and 139 new listings for condominiums.
At the end of June, there were 1,296 single-family homes for sale and 429 condominiums for sale in the Cape Cod & Islands Multiple Listing Service. Last June, there were 2,090 single-family homes and 567 condos listed for sale, a 38 percent decrease, and a 24.3 percent decrease, respectively.
Data released reflects all single-family homes and condominiums in the Cape Cod & Islands Multiple Listing Service for Barnstable County.