There definitely has been a shift in the Marco Island market. Inventory has grown a bit; it is now at 284 units and listings are coming on the market that aren’t all selling immediately. Not too long ago when we were pricing new listings, we would look at the most recent comparable sale – if there was one, and better it by what we thought the market would bear. Often, I found myself having to go with my gut and it usually worked. This pricing strategy no longer pertains.
It is natural to try to strive for the highest and best price, and considering what our market has been, it is understandable. But we are now seeing those striving listings come on the market and very soon they are reducing their asking price. If there is inventory of other properties on the market like yours, i.e., competition, you need to price your property competitively. If your property is in the niche of high demand inventory, then you can take a shot at a higher asking price.
A question I hear often is… will there be a bubble? I think not. I know real estate has been active all over the country, so a lot of the news about real estate is in “general”, we have to remember Marco Island is predominantly a second home market, and the second home buyer is much different than the average home buyer. I believe we have truly gone through a market correction on Marco. I have been selling real estate here since 1988 and our prices have always lagged behind Naples prices, we were a bargain in comparison. My opinion is we most likely will level out, but I personally don’t see a bubble.
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Market Influence…..
The Marco Island real estate market started to pick up momentum in late Fall of 2020. That is when buyers started to realize if they were potentially going to work from home for a while, why not work from a home on Marco Island. Things were fairly normal for a while, until the inventory started to become less and less.
It didn’t really make sense that the market, amidst a pandemic, would become more active… until it did. Once the inventory got depleted, that is when the full price, no days on the market new inventory turned into sold inventory. I’ve heard myself say to my early pandemic buyers “be glad you did what you did when you did it” many times. Historically our inventory is still low, but I am starting to think we have met a price plateau in most sectors of our market.
Current Inventory
Current Marco inventory is 297 units; 117 Condos priced from $248,000- $9.9 M, median price at $795,000; 99 single family homes, priced from $750,000 to $16M, median price at $2,560,000; 81 Vacant lots priced from $222,500-$7.7M, median price at $950,000.
Season 2022 vs. 2021
Last year was definitely the most active real estate market that Marco Island has ever had. The last time I experienced a market like it was in 2005, when our properties were rising in price even before they officially closed. This year is off to a good start, but it won’t compare to 2021. I think much of that decrease can be attributed to lack of inventory, there was just not much for buyers to buy. Here are the numbers: There were 1012 closed sales from January through May in 2021, in 2022 so far there have been 580, a decrease of almost 43 percent. The key differences between 2021 and 2022 can be seen in median prices and average sales prices. 2022 median prices have surpassed 2021 by quite a bit: a 50% rise in single family homes, 32% rise in condos and 119% rise in vacant lots. Those numbers are closely reflected in average sales prices also; Single family home rose 46%, Condos rose 31% and vacant lot rose 120 percent. So, it seems we won’t continue to see the high number of units sold but the sales price levels will most likely stick around.
Have a Wonderful Summer, call me if you need real estate info
