Another Friday is here with Sanibel and Captiva continuing to get busier with increased daytime traffic on Periwinkle Way. Our days are getting shorter with sunsets closer to 7 p.m. Temperatures have been a little cooler too, often with lower humidity. I heard on a weather report yesterday that the average date for local temperatures to dip below 90 degrees F is October 30. So soon, it will be even cooler. This week, it has been mostly sunny and breezy with day-time temps in the mid-80’s, nights mid-70’s.

This afternoon when teammate Dave and I were checking a new listing at Mariner Pointe, I noticed the canal water over the boat docks. When I mentioned it, Dave said “that’s because of the king tide”. Those happen, usually once or twice a year, in coastal communities. Typically, the highest tides of the year, that made me take my time heading back to the office as I snapped a few photos from a few other locations.

Our weekly update about the activity posted in the Sanibel & Captiva Multiple Listing Service follows a couple of news items below.

How COVID-19 Has Changed The Real Estate Market

If you did not read the Sunday article on “ForbesLife” titled “COVID-19 Has Changed The Housing Market Forever”, here are a few tidbits.

“Amid all the uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 over the past six months, one thing is assured: the pandemic has re-ordered real estate markets across the board on an unprecedented scale. Some of this may be irreversible. Real estate’s re-sorting this time isn’t just based on markets crashing (the Great Recession), political turmoil (the 1979 oil embargo), or financial speculation (the first and second dot.com busts)—after which there’s generally confidence that overall consumer demand and buyer preferences will sooner or later snap back to normal.

“Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, more deep-seated, tectonic-sized questions beyond markets and interest rates are being asked this time around that no one really has the answers to yet—like will people feel safer living in the south and southwest where they can spend all year social distancing outside? What if companies let workers work remotely for the rest of their lives? Why go back to retail shopping when I’m already ordering everything online? What’s the point of living “downtown” if half of the restaurants, bars, and museums never open back up?

“How these questions get answered will fundamentally re-order how Americans live in the “new” pandemic normal, and as a result will play a huge X-factor in which cities and states will experience growth, demand, and price appreciation over the next 3-5 years, and which ones will stagnate and lose out….

“Against this backdrop, real estate’s new normal is also creating huge swathes of opportunity. Dozens of cities and counties that were once considered too small, too southern, too hot, too flat, or lacking in amenities, culture, or sophistication are now finding themselves being swooned to the top of the real estate desirability lists as Americans seek warmer, healthier, less dense, better educated, and more mobile places to live that offer closer access to the outdoors, better hospitals, smaller schools, and more open space with no clear end to the pandemic in sight….

“The repercussions of America’s great COVID migration has the potential to re-shuffle the essential demographic and economic balance of America for the next generation. Realtors, investors, and politicians should be paying attention…. By every metric, Americans are moving faster now than they were before the pandemic. Page-per-property views on real estate platforms like Realtor and Zillow are up over 50% year-over-year almost everywhere, inventory in America’s 100 top metro markets has been shrinking since March, along with days on market and the gap between list-to-sale price. A lot of real estate experts prefer the word “despite” when it comes to accounting for this phenomenon while the pandemic’s still raging, when it’s probably more accurately “because of”.

““Real estate markets have undergone noticeable shifts since the start of the coronavirus pandemic,” …“In the wake of the lockdowns in March, Americans discovered that existing homes were not adequate for the new work, teach, exercise, cook and live at home reality. Based on realtor.com surveys of consumers, we learned that home shoppers are looking for more space, quieter neighborhoods, home offices, newer kitchens and access to the outdoors, traits which have revived a strong interest in the suburbs and smaller metro areas.”

“…So what’s the bottom line? Keep your bathing suit and laptop ready to pack. The longer COVID-19 continues to push Americans into the “new” normal, the more of us will be moving south and west, working by the pool….”

City of Sanibel – Emergency Declaration, COVID-19, & Rental Property Deadline

Again, this week, Sanibel’s Mayor extended the declared state of emergency due to COVID-19 until October 20, 2020, unless further extended. (Per State Statute, the maximum duration for a Mayoral Declaration of Emergency is seven days and thus must be updated weekly as the emergency exists.) Additionally, the City face covering mandate was reaffirmed and remains in effect through the period.

Per the Florida Department of Health, Sanibel’s total accumulative number of COVID-19 cases since March 26 is 57. (Yes, that is a big increase in the last couple of weeks. Everyone is urged to continue social distancing, hand washing, mask wearing, and to avoid group gatherings.)

Also, this week, the City posted a notice to owners of island rental property reminding them that Dwell Rental License and Registration application submission is required by Friday, October 30. Questions about this process should be addressed to Code.Enf@MySanibel.com or Planning at 239-472-4136.

Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service Activity October 9-16, 2020

Sanibel

CONDOS

4 new listings: Compass Point #232 2/2 $599K (our listing), Mariner Pointe #411 3/2 $599K (our listing), Surfside 12 #B1 3/2 $1.075M, Kings Crown #302 2/2 $1.499M.

3 price changes: Loggerhead Cay #274 2/2 now $679K, Sanibel Inn #3512 2/2 now $726.5K, Tarpon Beach #207 2/2 now $899K (our listing).

9 new sales: Spanish Cay #F6 1/1 listed at $293K, Sanibel Arms #B7 1/1 listed at $356.5K, Seashells #43 2/2 listed at $429K, Seashells #26 2/2 listed at $439.9K, Blind Pass #B111 2/2 listed at $475K, Mariner Pointe #813 2/2 listed at $569K, Villas of Sanibel #B202 3/3 listed at $1.895M, Plantation Village #B222 3/3 listed at $2.53M, Wedgewood #102 3/3.5 listed at $2.595M.

6 closed sales: Kimball Lodge #263 1/1.5 $490K, Pointe Santo #D32 2/2 $700K, Sundial #J107 2/2 $700K, Sandpiper Beach #202 2/2 $760K, Gulfside Place #121 2/2 $1M, Sanibel Sunset #301 3/2 $1.8M.

HOMES

5 new listings: 1860 Ibis Ln 5/3 $895K, 770 Elinor Way 3/2.5 $899K, 9277 Belding Dr 3/3 $925K, 1308 Tahiti Dr 3/3 $949K, 513 Lighthouse Way 3/3 $2.195M.

7 price changes: 9195 Dimmick Dr 2/2 now $449K, 315 East Gulf Dr 3/2 half-duplex now $579K, 1142 Shell Basket Ln 3/2 now $625K, 1001 East Gulf Dr 2/2 now $639K, 1610 Sabal Sands Rd 3/2 now $714.9K, 1430 Sanderling Cir 4/3.5 now $870K, 1069 Bird Ln 4/3.5 now $4.495M.

4 new sales: 9248 Dimmick Dr 3/3 listed at $699K, 1304 Par View Dr 3/3 listed at $750K, 734 Anchor Dr 3/2 listed at $829K, 2957 Wulfert Rd 4/4.5 listed at $1.525M.

10 closed sales: 9247 Dimmick Dr 3/2 $565K, 490 + 460 Old Trail 3/2.5 $675K, 9024 Mockingbird Dr 3/2 $780K, 215 Robinwood Cir 4/3 $800K, 756 Windlass Way 4/3 $810K, 776 Conch Ct 3/2 $850K, 919 Pecten Ct 3/3/2 $900K, 545 Lake Murex Cir 3/3 $1.035M, 790 Beach Rd 4/3.5 $1.18M, 3615 West Gulf Dr 3/2 $2.6M.

LOTS

1 new listing: 6000 White Heron Ln $889K.

No price changes.

1 new sale: 2279 Wulfert Rd listed at $318K.

No closed sales.

Captiva

CONDOS

No new listings or price changes.

2 new sales: Bayside Villas #5136 1/2 listed at $399K, Lands End Village #1667 2/2 listed at $1.088M.

No closed sales.

HOMES

No new listings.

1 price change: 16189 Captiva Dr 6/4 multi-home now $4.099M.

1 new sale: 1124 Longifolia Ct 4/5 listed at $2.649M.

1 closed sale: 15879 Captiva Dr 3/3 $2.1M.

LOTS

No new listings or price changes.

1 new sale: 925 South Seas Plantation Rd listed at $5.899M.

No closed sales.

This representation is based in part on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service. Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy.  Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.  The information provided represents the general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions.

Below is our ad from today’s “Island Sun”.

Until next Friday, Susan Andrews, aka SanibelSusan