Susan here reporting another busy real estate week at SanibelSusan Realty with a home inspection last Saturday, a new listing, two new sales, and follow-up action items completed on other sales scheduled to close soon.

With inventory still soooo low, it remains challenging to find properties that match buyers wants/needs. That means new well-priced listings sell fast. We continue to sleuth out new ones as our list of potential buyers gets longer and longer.

The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors® had no Caravan Meeting yesterday, but below is an update of island inventory per their Multiple Listing Service (9/24/21).

 

SANIBEL	Condos		Homes		Lots
	#	Avg Price $	#	Avg Price $	#	Avg Price $
For sale	19	856,855	23	2,830,195	18	583,888
Under contract	20	739,435	33	1,672,374	7	475,776
Sold/closed thru 9/23	229	864,406	290	1,308,341	61	746,795
Sold/closed last year	192	733,876	290	954,718	23	606,233

 

CAPTIVA	Condos		Homes		Lots
	#	Avg Price $	#	Avg Price $	#	Avg Price $
For sale	3	1,496,666	10	6,297,800	0	N/A
Under contract	6	2,040,333	2	2,347,499	0	N/A
Sold/closed thru 9/23	48	1,118,977	37	2,781,632	2	2,950,000
Sold/closed last year	47	821,713	27	2,923,148	4	2,537,500

Note: Prices of units “For sale” and “Under contract” are asking prices.

Next week is the Association monthly membership meeting with a presentation on the National Flood Insurance Program’s new Risk Rating 2.0. Expect to see an update next Friday on how this new risk rating methodology is expected to affect flood insurance. It will apply to any new policies written after Oct 1, plus renewals.

The complete action posted this week in the Sanibel/Captiva MLS follows a few news items.

National Public Lands Day at J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge

There will be no admission charge tomorrow (Saturday Sep 25) on Wildlife Drive (from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) in celebration of National Public Lands Day. The refuge staff also will be awarding a free one-day pass (good for a year) to any national wildlife refuge, national park, and other federal lands to visitors who collect a bag of trash at the refuge.

Tomorrow, visitors also are invited to the Welcome Table outside the Visitor & Education Center from 9.a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to tour the WoW (Wildlife on Wheels) mobile interactive experience and play fee games in the parking lot.

Interest Rates Rising? In November, Fed May Start Reversing Programs

Posted on-line yesterday at FloridaRealtors® and sourced to “Human Events”:

“The Federal Reserve hinted it may start reversing its pandemic stimulus programs come November – and it could raise interest rates next year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Fed’s rate-setting committee revised its post meeting statement Wednesday to say that it may start to reduce or taper its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases as soon as its next meeting in early November.

““If progress continues broadly as expected the Committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the statement said. New estimates released at the end of the two-day meeting showed half of 18 officials expect to raise interest rates by the end of 2022.

“When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, the Fed cut its short-term benchmark rate to close to zero, and it has been purchasing at least $80 billion a month in Treasury and $40 billion a month in mortgage bonds since June of 2020 to provide additional stimulus.

“Per the Journal: Fed officials laid out a three-part test to raise interest rates one year ago that would require inflation to reach 2% and be on course to exceed that while the labor market returns to levels consistent with maximum employment.

“In December, they said they would buy bonds at the current pace until the economy had made “substantial further progress” toward their goals of reversing a shortfall, then of around 10 million jobs since the start of the pandemic and moving inflation back to their 2% goal over time. The Fed’s asset portfolio has doubled to $8.4 trillion from $4.2 trillion in February 2020.

“Rising vaccination rates and nearly $2.8 trillion in federal spending approved since December has produced a recovery like none in recent memory. Inflation has soared this year, with so-called core prices that exclude volatile food and energy categories up 3.6% in July from a year earlier, using the Fed’s preferred gauge. The gains largely reflect disrupted supply chains, shortages and a rebound in travel associated with the reopening of the economy.

“Wednesday’s projections show half of the officials expected interest rates would need to rise at least 1% from their current level by the end of 2023, and by another three-fourths of a percentage point in 2024.”

Florida-Owned Insurer: Losses and Policies Keep Growing

Also posted yesterday on FloridaRealtors® on-line and sourced to “News Service of Florida”: “Citizens Property Insurance expects to exceed more than 1M policies sometime in 2022 – and private insurers will rack up more than 1B in losses by the end of this year.

“TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s policy count will surpass 1 million next year as private market insurers continue to experience losses expected to reach nearly $1 billion by the end of 2021. Speaking to Citizens Board of Governors, Citizens President, CEO and Executive Director Barry Gilway on Wednesday warned that as Citizens’ policy count grows, so does the risk of assessments on all Florida insurance consumers. A fee could be added to all policies if a major storm or series of storms hits, and causes Citizens to exhaust its $6.4 billion surplus.

“Created as Florida’s insurer of last resort, Citizens is taking on more than 5,000 policies a week as private companies continue to shed policies in response to losses brought on by litigation, damage from Hurricanes Irma and Michael, more expensive reinsurance and other factors. “Citizens is considering all ideas to reduce exposure, and to continue to operate as efficiently as possible during this unprecedented growth period,” Gilway said.

“During committee meetings Tuesday, Citizens officials outlined a series of options to stem growth, including marketing and technology upgrades to the Florida Market Assistance Plan, which was created by the Florida Legislature to refer potential policyholders to private market coverages. Citizens officials are taking steps to reduce risk by increasing inspections on new business and exploring potential changes to Citizens Depopulation Choices and Property Insurance Clearinghouse programs. Such changes would require legislative consideration.

““At this point, everything is on the table as we try hard to support the development of a stronger private insurance market and stabilize the role of Citizens as the market of last resort,” said Gov. Nelson Telemaco, chairman of Citizens’ Exposure Reduction Committee.

“Since October 2019, Citizens has seen its policy count jump from 420,000 to more than 700,000. At this pace, company officials expect the policy count to exceed 760,000 by the end of 2021. Initial estimates call for Citizens’ policy count to reach 1.1 million to 1.3 million by year-end 2022.

Citizens’ policy count reached a peak of nearly 1.5 million in 2011 with nearly $520 billion in exposure. If the state was hit by a 1-in-a-100-year storm during that time, all Florida insurance consumers would have been on the hook for $24 billion in assessments, which would have been tacked onto their monthly premiums for years.”

Temporary Restaurant Closings

The list of temporary restaurant closings is getting shorter as some have reopened following annual vacations, deep cleans, fix-ups, etc. Most of the others reopen week. Below are the ones still closed.

• Bleu Rendez-Vous Bistro – closed thru Sep 30, reopens Oct 1.
• Island Pizza – closed thru Sep 29, reopens Sep 30.
• Mad Hatter – closed thru Sep 30, reopens Oct 1.
• The Sandbar Steak & Seafood – closed thru Sep 29, reopens Sep 30.
• Traders – closed Sep 11 thru Oct 5, reopens Oct 6.
• Traders 2 (T2) – closed thru Oct 4, reopens Oct 5.

Fall Weather on Sanibel

This week, with the first day of fall, there were plenty of social media jokes about how autumn weather on the Gulf Coast (Florida) is much the same as the rest of the year. That is not exactly true. Here the rainy season is letting up a little and the temperatures are dipping down a little lower at night. With a little luck, there will be a day in the not-too-distant future with daytime temperatures only in the 80’s, and nights into the 60’s. Meanwhile, the humidity is dropping a tad too. This afternoon, with plenty of sunshine, I stopped to get a couple of photos at the Nerita Street beach access.

The sky is blue with a few popcorn clouds, the water is clear (still no flows coming from Lake O, just run-off), but there was no one on the beach in either direction. That likely will change in the next few weeks as the early snowbirds start returning.

Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service Activity September 17-24, 2021

Sanibel

CONDOS

4 new listings: Sundial #C305 1/1 $549,945; Sundial #D304 1/1 $595K; Donax Village #9 2/2 $699K; Mariner Pointe #1061 2/2 $724K (our listing).

No price changes.

3 new sales: Blind Pass #A206 2/2 listed at $565K, Sanibel Arms #F3 1/1 listed at $599K (our listing), Sanibel Arms West #F6 2/2 listed at $1.049M.

3 closed sales: Breakers West #C3 2/2 $775K, Sanibel Arms West #C6 2/2 $915K, Island Beach Club #330B 2/2 $990K.

HOMES

No new listings or price changes.

6 new sales: 1025 S. Yachtsman Dr 3/2 listed at $820K; 5298 Umbrella Pool Rd 3/2.5 listed at $995K; 554 East Rocks Dr 3/2 listed at $999,995; 682 Pyrula Ave 5/4.5 listed at $1.995M; 375 East Gulf Dr 5/5 listed at $2.9M (our listing); 1237 Isabel Dr 6/6.5 listed at $2.995M

6 closed sales: 1444 Sandpiper Cir 2/2 half-duplex $479K; 1846 Ardsley Way 2/2 $701,498; 9032 Mockingbird Dr 3/2 $740K; 4506 Bowen Bayou Rd 3/2 $819K; 5817 Sanibel-Captiva Rd 4/2 $1.09M; 2475 Tropical Way Ct 3/3.5 $2.34M.

LOTS

1 new listing: 554 Lake Murex Cir $699K.

No price changes.

1 new sale: 470 Sawgrass Pl listed at $795K.

No closed sales.

Captiva

CONDOS

No new listings or price changes.

1 new sale: Captiva Bay Villas #E 3/3.5 listed at $3.549M.

3 closed sales: Beach Villas #2414 2/2 $875K, Marina Villas #905 2/2 $875K, Seabreeze #1251 3/3 $1.9625M.

HOMES

No new listings.

1 price change: 11559 Laika Ln 4/3.5 now $6.9M.

1 new sale: 11520 Murmond Ln 5/5 listed at $1,999,999.

2 closed sales: 10 Sunset Captiva Ln 2/2.5 $1.395M, 1072 South Seas Plantation Rd 3/3.5 $3.25M.

LOTS

Nothing to report.

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.

Until next Friday, enjoy your fall!

Susan Andrews, aka SanibelSusan