Barnstable County Commissioners Mark Forest, Ronald Bergstrom and Sheila Lyons.
HYANNIS – The Cape’s red-hot real estate market has shown signs of cooling, says local real estate experts.
During a meeting of the Barnstable County Commissioners, Barnstable County Register of Deeds Jack Meade said the office’s budget is down 2 percent as the COVID-era real estate boom begins to slow.
The revenue drop led to the office being unable to fill two planned positions, but even so, Meade says an abrupt fall is unlikely.
“We have seen a significant increase in property values, now I think we’re going to see some retrenchment on that going forward, but I don’t think the retrenchment is enough to seriously go below the numbers we’re talking about. Cape Cod is an attractive place,” said Meade.
The office is expecting $14 million in revenue for this year, though Meade said the spring tends to be a doldrum for real estate sales. He added that the County should expect even less next year: $13 million.
Commissioners said that the prices may be tapering off, but affordable housing still remains a major challenge for the region.
“Yeah they’re high. There were a lot of big transactions here in Wellfleet. I was shocked at some of the house prices, which is making me nervous because we don’t want to be Nantucket, where they have a $3 million median house price,” said Lyons.
Commissioner Ronald Bergstrom echoed the statement, saying that prices have climbed significantly in his home of Chatham, as well.
About Grady Culhane
