Cape Cod Real Estate Market Rebounds in March

BARNSTABLE – The real estate market on Cape Cod rebounded in March with increases in volume and value.

Barnstable County Register of Deeds John Meade reports an increase in the volume of sales of 5.2 percent from last March and the total value of sales rose 16 percent.

The median individual property sale value was also up 4.8 percent from the previous year to $370,000.

“All in all a strong month for March,” Meade said.

“We’re starting to see the volume picking up as the spring rolls on.”

Meade said January and February are generally the slowest months of the year with drops in median sales value.

“I’ve been doing this for a while and our median value always drops at the beginning of the year and it always comes back as the market fills in and people are buying higher end properties with more consistency,” Meade said.

Volume of sales remains down 3.3 percent for the year to date. Total value of sales is up 5.1 percent for the year with a 2.6 percent increase in median sales value.

“It’s nice to see us come back and I have always said ‘one month a trend does not make,’” Meade said. “So we will have to see how things are going in April, and so far so good from where I’m sitting.”

Meade said the lower end of the market is much tighter right now after a few years of high movement.

“We are seeing some really high-end deals that are coming through,” he said.

There were 19 foreclosure deeds in March which was a 13.6 percent decrease from last year. For the year to date there have been 44 foreclosures, which is down 13.7 percent.

“They are stubbornly still in the general area to where they have been the last couple of years,” Meade said. “We are averaging about 15 to 20 per month.”

Meade said even though the foreclosure numbers are down this year it is still more than he would like to see.