CENTERVILLE, Mass. — Ron Chevalier just sold his home on Cape Cod. He owned it for 31 years, but it took his him less than 24 hours to sell it.
It appears it will take more than a pandemic to crush Massachusetts’ hot housing market. In spite of COVID-19, the real estate market is surprisingly healthy, especially on Cape Cod.
“Pretty amazing we anticipating anything to happen that fast,” Chevalier said.
Real estate deals are happening fast all over the Cape. The housing market is on fire this summer.
“I’ve been a real estate agent for over 17 years here on the Cape and the market has never been hotter,” said Mike Karras. He is a longtime realtor on Cape Cod.
According to data released by the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors, 690 homes sold in July. The median price was just about $498,950. That is the most homes sold on the Cape since 1999. Last July, 434 homes sold with a median price of $435,000.
Karras credits the surge in sales to an urban exodus of people leaving cities from all over the globe to settle there. He said cash is driving the market and added that for many, a home and land is better than gold.
“As soon as a house comes on, you want to know about it because if it comes on on a Tuesday and you plan on coming here on Saturday, there’s a good chance it will already be under contract,” he said.
The same data points to a record in July with $457 million in home sales. That’s a 93% increase from July 2019 and that’s good news if you’re a seller like Ron Chevalier.
“We weren’t anticipating it to be quite as high as it is,” Chevalier said.
While sales are off the charts right now, there’s concern about a lack of inventory. Inventory is already down 50 percent from this time last summer and realtors fear it will likely only get worse because regulations to build on the Cape make new construction virtually non-existent.
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