Cheers to the first Friday in 2025! May the new year speed up island recovery with quicker restoration, return of visitors, and more business. The SanibelSusan Team is ready for that and many others are too.

On the plus side, more vegetation that survived the recent storms is greening up. This month marks 33 years since my family moved to Sanibel, but I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing tropical growth and flowering over the holidays.

At my home, the bougainvillea bounced back best, but a few hibiscuses, and now some beach roses are blooming. This is the dry season, but blue sky and sunshine do wonders.

Island Weather

With local weather continuing to be mid- to high-70’s (degrees F) most days, Southwest Florida often boasts being the warmest spot in the nation. This week, there have been a few foggy mornings and evenings. Those are rare here and remind me of growing up on the Maine coast.

With fireworks not allowed on Sanibel, some islanders gather annually on New Year’s Eve at Lighthouse Beach to watch the distant fireworks on Fort Myers Beach. Because of fog, I heard only a few attempted that this year – and they couldn’t see the display through the pea soup.

It was chilly this morning (50’s) but up to 75 mid-afternoon. Tomorrow (Sat) reports are that temps may not get out of the 60’s but warmer weather is expected again Sun and Mon, or until another cold front arrives early Tues. After that, forecasters say nighttime temps will be in the 40’s, with days only in the 60’s, through next week and into next weekend.

Yikes! Time to get the winter flip flops back out.

Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors

The local Association of Realtors did not meet this week. Next Thursday (Jan 9) is an 11 a.m. Caravan Meeting followed by Open Houses at new listings.

Sanibel & Captiva Real Estate Scoop

As far as Multiple Listing Service activity, it was another week with many more new and back-on-market listings and price reductions (37 in total). This compares to just five new sales. There again were none on Captiva. On Sanibel, no new lot sales, but three homes and two condos went under contract.

On the commercial side, the Anchor Inn at 1245 Periwinkle Way closed this week for $3.2M. That’s a sign in the right direction!

Yesterday, out on Captiva, I saw that many big sand piles remain from the Sept/Oct storms and both of their public beach parking areas still are closed (Tuner Beach Lot just after the bridge and Alison Hagerup Beach Park just past the Captiva Post office). The Blind Pass Beach Lot on the Sanibel side of the Captiva Bridge also still is closed. Restoration work with heavy equipment continues.

Even so, on both islands, there seemed to be more bikers and joggers than last week, but overall, there has been very little real estate activity compared to past holiday years. One year, I even sold a home on Christmas Day – squeezed it in between brunch and dinner.

Below, with data from the islands Multiple Listing Service (MLS) are summary tables of the residential sales statistics, followed by the Sanibel/Captiva MLS action reported this week

SANIBEL RESIDENTIAL	CONDOS			HOMES			LOTS
	#	Avg Price	DOM	#	Avg Price	DOM	#	Avg Price	DOM
For sale:	117	997,025	124	193	2,017,05	99	32	1,007,993	260
Under contract	5	1,169,000	102	17	1,800,676	17	0	N/A	N/A
Sold to 1/3/2025	0	N/A	N/A	1	804,000	44	0	N/A	N/A
Sold 2024	75	818,493	117	164	1,471,981	115	15	1,403,533	192
Sold 2023	98	955,261	65	263	1,267,390	73	24	920,645	76
Sold 2022	123	1,136,199	44	185	1,602,745	52	26	779,528	223
Sold 2021	287	875,127	113	355	1,341,881	89	69	698,862	442

CAPTIVA RESIDENTIAL	CONDOS			HOMES			LOTS
	#	Avg Price	DOM	#	Avg Price	DOM	#	Avg Price	DOM
For sale:	36	1,225,722	155	20	6,152,550	174	1	12M	491
Under contract	0	N/A	N/A	1	999,999	34	0	N/A	N/A
Sold to 1/3/2025	0	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A
Sold 2024	13	1,728,846	185	8	4,887,187	182	0	N/A	N/A
Sold 2022	28	1,458,983	52	22	5,636,386	133	0	N/A	N/A
Sold 2021	64	1,150,373	145	44	2,988,520	261	2	2,950,000	731

Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service Activity Dec 27 – Jan 3:

Sanibel

CONDOS

4 new listings: Lighthouse Point #315 3/2 $895K, Sanibel Moorings #1641 2/2 $899K, Sanctuary Golf Villages I #2-1 2/2.5 $1.095M, Tanglewood #5A 3/2 $1.149M.

2 price changes: Sayana #203 2/2 now $895K, Gulfside Place #125 2/2 now $1.795M.

2 new sales: Sandalfoot #4D3 2/2 listed at $650K, Sandpiper West #4 3/2.5 listed at $2.25M.

No closed sales.

HOMES

8 new listings: 486 Lake Murex Cir 3/2 $899K, 1165 Sand Castle Rd 3/2 $995K, 754/756 Donax 4/2 $999,999; St 731 Nerita St 3/2 $1.1M, 4245 Gulf Pines Dr 3/2 $1.279M, 3285 Twin Lakes Ln 3/2.5 $1.495M, 803 Lindgren Blvd 4/4.5 $1.695M, 939 Beach Rd 4/3.5 $2.1M.

3 back-on-market: 4400 Gulf Pines Dr 3/3 $1.375M, 837 Sand Dollar Dr 4/3.5 $2.995M, 4257 West Gulf Dr 4/4.5 $12M.

14 price changes: 586 Boulder Dr 3/2 now $559K, 589 Rabbit Rd 2/2 now $875K, 1674 Bunting Ln 3/2 now $899K, 497 Lake Murex Cir 4/3 now $899K, 3784 Coquina Dr 3/2 now $949K, 3311 Twin Lakes Ln 3/3 now $949K, 1410 Albatross Rd 3/3 now $1.099M, 673 East Rocks Dr 3/2 now $1.249M, 1564 Middle Gulf Dr 3/2.5 now $1.389M, 517 Lake Murex Cir 4/3 now $1.499M, 746 Nerita St 4/2 now $1.595M, 539 N Yachtsman Dr 4/3.5 now $1.699M, 888 Limpet Dr 3/2 now $1.699M, 1199 Par View Dr 3/2.5 now $1.895M.

3 new sales: 812 Rabbit Rd 3/2 listed at $699K, 5769 San-Cap Rd 2/2 listed at $1M, 4513 Waters Edge Ln 3/2.5 listed at $5.45M.

2 closed sales: 567 Rabbit Rd 2/2 $765K, 5297 Punta Caloosa Ct 3/2 $804K.

LOTS

No new listings.

2 price changes: 4019 Coquina Dr now $440K, 4037 Coquina Dr now $999K.

No new or closed sales.

CAPTIVA

CONDOS

1 new listing; Bayside Villas #5120 1/2 $545K.

No price changes, new or closed sales.

HOMES

2 new listings: 15161 Captiva Dr 4/4.5 $6.495M, 16500 Captiva Dr 6/6.5 $8.495M.

1 price change: 16770 Captiva Dr 5/4.4 now $9.7M.

No new or closed sales.

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.