What's Happening on Cape Cod Today

Topography Shifts as Southway Closes off Chatham

With the stability of a child’s sand castle, the Southway, once a major channel for boaters traveling between South Beach and Monomoy Island off Chatham Mainland, finally succumbed to Mother Nature last week, filling in with enough sand to permanently close it.


On the surface, the closure appears to be just an inconvenience for boaters, who now must travel the entire eight-mile length of Monomoy to reach the Atlantic waters east of South Beach. But the development raises questions about broader, long-term impacts to the area, and has economic ramifications.

Passage through the Southway, which started its slow but steady closure following the 1987 storm that created the Chatham break outside Lighthouse Beach, was limited to roughly an hour before and an hour after high tide this summer.

But after the fierce Thanksgiving Day nor’easter, the seaway became impassable.

The closure has also raised concerns about future ecological changes in the Morris Island Channel. Located just north of Monomoy, that channel now will be the only throughway for the more than 70 boats moored in Outermost Harbor.

Cape Cod Real Estate Updates:

Optimism Takes Hold on Housing Market

Although there is no denying that the U.S. residential property sector is still soft compared with the previous three years, a growing number of analysts are beginning to hint that the country's housing slump may be over.

They point to a rebound in home builder stocks and declining mortgage reasons as proof.

Indeed, builder stocks rallied sharply on Nov. 30 following an analyst's upgrade, while Freddie Mac confirms that the average interest on a 30-year fixed mortgage slipped to 6.14 percent this past week.

"The transition from sizzling markets to normal or weak markets has been orderly so far, and recent drops in interest rates lessen the likelihood that precipitous changes will occur," says Patrick Lawler, Chief Economist for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

Source: Los Angeles Times, Annette Haddad (12/01/06)

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