Has the Cape's housing market stabilized?The housing market nationwide may still be deteriorating, but there is evidence mounting that the worst is behind us on Cape Cod. For the third consecutive month, the median price of a single-family home across Barnstable County has held steady, as these numbers show. June 2007: $338,000.00 +4.0% These numbers just released by the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds confirming a growing conviction among real estate experts that the Cape Cod market is not feeling the impact of foreclosures or exotic mortgages that have so bedeviled the nation's housing market. Housing, after extraordinary price run-ups earlier this decade, began to decline earlier than other markets now harder hit. As a result, Cape Cod may be coming out of the swoon earlier than elsewhere. One reality that has not changed through the tough housing market: More baby boomers are retiring or choosing second homes. That demographic bubble is sure to benefit places like the Cape, and with housing prices now at relatively reasonable levels, the market is beginning to look more and more attractive. There is little doubt of pent-up demand. The challenge will be whether potential buyers can sell their homes elsewhere to move here. Five months of improved conditions for Plymouth housingPlymouth County, meanwhile, saw its fifth consecutive month of growth in real estate sales. June saw more of a continued slow, but steady improvement, said Registrar of Deeds John R. Buckley Jr. "While the volume of this year's sales compared to last year has been down each month, the deficit in recorded deeds in 2008 has declined from 18 percent in January, 14 percent through March, 12 percent through April to its current point of a 10 percent decline in June," he said. Sale prices have dropped dramatically in some areas of the country, and while Plymouth County has seen a decline, the fall has been relatively modest. The average sale price through June was $346,489, down from $378,114 during the same period in 2007. "We've seen sale prices rise steadily for a number of years," noted Buckley, "so we certainly notice the recent decline in prices. But given the more dramatic fall in other areas of the country, an eight-percent decline in Plymouth County represents a relatively healthy sales market." Buckley did report a decline in refinance activity in recent months. Plymouth County recorded 2,004 mortgages in June, down from 2,070 in May and 2,283 in April. In total, Plymouth County has recorded in excess of $3 billion in mortgages through June of this year. Gas prices: The good news for Cape CodThere is one silver lining to $4.25 cents per gallon gasoline. It seemed to have a positive effect on the Cape's July Fourth holiday business. "This was a really good weekend for us," said Wendy Northcross, president of the Cape Cod Chamber of Congress. "I was amazed by how many Massachusetts license plates I saw in the parking lots. I think that with the cost of travel, a lot of people are staying closer to home this summer." Betsy Wall of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism told the Boston Globe that hotels and inns were reporting strong business. "It's a pretty sensible response to high gas prices," she said in response to the holiday traffic. A random survey by Cape Business indicated that the deteriorating weather later in the weekend may have actually helped retailers and restaurants. Most visitors already were on the Cape when the weather turned gray. That drove them to indoor locations, especially on Sunday. The high price of gas and the dollar's plummeting value may be discouraging many people from long trips across the United States or abroad. That means that fewer Americans are willing to travel more than 50 miles from their homes for weekends – and that could be excellent news for the Cape. State employment picture remains better than elsewhereThe state continues to outpace the nation on the employment front, although the unemployment rate now is rising. While a lagging indicator, the most recent numbers for May show the Massachusetts economy added 3,900 jobs, while the national economy has shed nearly 400,000 jobs. Solid growth has been seen in education and health services, as well as professional, scientific and business services. For the month of May, professional, scientific and business services added 700 jobs, education and health services added 400 jobs, and the governmental sector added the remaining jobs. Among the nine major private super sectors, five recorded job increases while four showed over the month declines. The state reported that the Massachusetts unemployment rate rose from 4.1 percent in April to 4.9 percent in May, after having dropped three tenths of a percentage point from March to April. While this one month increase mirrors the increase in the national rate which was reported last week; the state rate continues to fall below the national rate of 5.5 percent. One year ago, both the Massachusetts and U.S. rates stood at 4.5 percent. During each of the subsequent 12 months, the Massachusetts rate has been below the U.S. rate. The national rate jumped from 5.0 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May. Next newsletter, we will feature local employment numbers. Hollywood EastFor a while, it looked as if the prospect of a $300 million film and television studio in Plymouth could evaporate – after the company's initial focus, 300 acres near the Bourne border, proved unfeasible for development due to legal issues over titles to the land. But last week, Plymouth Rock Studios announced it would be purchasing the Waverly Oaks Golf Club off Exit 3 of Route 3 for its planned 14 sound stages, back lots, a hotel and office buildings. The project still must go through a rezoning vote this fall, but town residents and selectmen have indicated a strong desire to see the so-called Hollywood East project come to the town, where it promises to employ several thousand people over coming years and become a draw for an entirely new, high-income, white-collar industry. In fact, the movie industry has been booming in Massachusetts since lawmakers approved tax incentives designed to lure filmmakers to the state. To learn more about the studios, visit www.plymouthrockstudios.com. BusinessConnector.biz headlinesWhen you register your business at BusinessConnector.biz, you can begin publishing your press releases, job openings, sales and special offers immediately. Here are some of this week's headlines from our members. Once you register for $149 for the year you can begin to publish all sorts of information about your business. All Business Connect 2008 sponsors get their account free for being part of the conference. To read more details about the following news, go to BusinessConnector.biz. • Complete Home Concepts makes its conference rooms available to business organizations and nonprofit groups to use free of charge. Located within Complete Home Concepts in Hyannis and Plymouth, the rooms are available during business hours and can seat up to 45 people in classroom seating and includes an LCD projector, screen and podium within the room. New head for Sandwich chamber; merger proposed with SAFLPKate Bavelock is the new executive director of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce. Her appointment also is spurring a potential merger of the Sandwich Alliance of Financial and Legal Professionals with the chamber. After several meetings with executive board members from both groups and Bavelock's recent appointment, the two organizations voted to merge. The SAFLP would become a committee of the chamber, said Tim Cooney, an original founder of the alliance. The alliance was established several years ago because Sandwich was attracting many new attorneys and financial advisers who saw the location as a hub not only on the Cape but across the canal and throughout Southeast Massachusetts. One inhibiting factor in the group's growth has been a relative scarcity of office space in Sandwich. Some founding members, in fact, have been forced to look in other towns for space. |
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Lee Wareham - REALTOR®, TRC, e-PRO
The Tucker Group
Kinlin Grover GMAC Real Estate
193 Cranberry Highway - Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653
800-275-9210 x141, 774-313-6091 Mobile
508-255-1489 Fax
mailto:lwareham@kinlingrover.com
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