Mixed month for the Cape real estate market

Property value, median price and foreclosures all rise on Cape


Cape Cod Online/Cape Cod Times
September 06, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a mixed month for the Cape real estate market, property value, sales volume, median price and foreclosures were all up in August, according to data from the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds.

Nonetheless, Register of Deeds John Meade said, "August was a pretty good month given what we've been looking at for the last six."

The registry, which tracks commercial and residential transactions valued at more than $50,000, recorded 591 deeds in August, an increase of more than 20 percent over activity in the same month last year.

These numbers include increased activity in the $500,000 to $900,000 price range, which Meade said could be a hopeful sign.

"I don't want to put too much stock in one month's worth of transactions, but what that's an indicator of is that that price end of the market is not completely stalled out," he said.

Overall this year, the registry has recorded 4,359 sales, an increase of 2.1 percent as compared with the same period in 2006.

The median sale price last month was the highest yet this year at $355,000, meaning that half the transactions were valued above that number and half below. This price is up from the August 2006 median of $350,000.

Median sales value has increased for each of the past four months from a low of $325,000 in May.

This pattern, Meade said, might encourage hesitant buyers to venture into the real estate market.

"If we can see another month or two of this going forward, people can start feeling better about the market," he said. "There's a lot of people still waiting to jump in."

To date in 2007, the median sale price is $342,500, a decrease of 7.4 percent when compared with the same period last year, when the median sale value was $370,000.

The total value of all transactions in the county in August was up nearly 80 percent — to $423.4 million — though that number is inflated by the sale of four Tedeschi shopping centers, Meade said.

Early last month, Tedeschi Realty Corp. sold the Skaket Corners Shopping Center in Orleans; Star Market plazas in Harwich and Hyannis; and the Stop & Shop Plaza off Route 6A in Sandwich. Those properties were sold as part of a $377 million deal for 25 shopping centers owned by Tedeschi across southern New England.

For the year, however, the total sales volume in Barnstable County is still off about 6 percent when compared with the same period in 2006.

Foreclosures saw the sharpest increase.

The 31 foreclosures completed on the Cape in August bring the total for the year to 169 — more than triple the total through the first eight months of 2006.

Real Estate For sale and Open Houses on Cape Cod