Breaking into Spring
February 28, 2025
Spring break time is here in the Southernmost City. Along with crowds of college students hitting town, we have a full schedule of special events taking place on land, sea, and even in the sky, while a Key West real estate buyers’ market appears to be shaping up to make your island dream come true.
A New Year Takes Shape
With the 2025 Key West real estate market solidly under way, we can grab a quick snapshot of the action and begin to get a sense of how conditions might shape up this year. As of this end-of-February posting, there are 521 active listings in Key West/Stock Island—19.3 months of inventory—with a 94% average sale to list price ratio and no properties being sold over the original asking price. The general indications are that we are in buyer’s market.
This take is reinforced by a comparison of January 2025 with the preceding month December 2024. We can see an ongoing mild softening in the market, with 27 homes sold in January as compared to 31 in December. Both median list and median sale prices are down just slightly, 4% and 3% respectively, with December 2024–January 2025 median list price dropping from $1,295,000 to $1,240,000, and median sale price going from $1,225,000 to $1,185,000. The same period last year, January 2024, saw 40 homes sold at a median sale price of $1,197,500.
The potential for open windows of buying opportunity that we mentioned in our December 2024 post looks like it is being realized at this point. The number of listings is expected to continue a steady increase at least through March, with interest rates remaining stable and sales increasing as buyers step up to take advantage of good pricing and more properties to choose from. With median days on market dropping from 74 in January 2024 to 43 for the same month this year, it looks like there are buyers out there who are alert to the chance to save some money on their island dream homes.
Can We Expect a Market Shakeup?
As everyone knows by now, we are seeing some major turmoil in the U.S. political arena. Exactly how that might trickle down to the Key West real estate is difficult to predict. Gauged by the median sales price and the fact that the majority of local listings fall in the $1,600,000 and upwards range, Key West real estate can be considered a luxury market. While not as sensitive to small movements in interest rates and pricing, this market segment is being affected by a shift to long-term thinking and a ‘dream home’ focus among buyers.
There is a growing preference for homes that offer the adaptability to accommodate changing lifestyles that include hybrid work, aging in place, and multi-generational living as well as unique location, beauty, and comfort. Because the Key West and particularly the Lower Keys property market in general offer plenty of homes with various combinations of these desirable characteristics, we are unlikely to see any significant change in the overall upward trend of home prices.
The best buying strategy now is likely to be formulating a clear vision of what you would like in a Key West/Lower Keys home, keeping a close eye on available inventory, then making a move when you see the chance to realize your dream. Take any price discount you can get as a nice extra bonus, and if anything expect prices to stabilize and then resume their climb as the year goes on and things calm down in D.C.
Look—Up in the Air!
No, it’s not just Key West property values soaring to the sky. The weekend of March 29–30 brings back a favorite Key West annual event when the Southernmost Air Spectacular Key West airshow lands at Naval Air Station Key West. The show features military performers including the legendary Blue Angels, the F-35 Lightning II Demo Team, the awesome Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighters of NAS Key West’s own VFC-111 Sun Downers adversary squadron, and more. Top civilian high-performance pilots, a car show, a boat show, static displays, souvenirs, games, food, drink, and lots of fun make this one of the most exciting local events of the year.
(Image in public domain)
This is a perfect reason to plan a spring visit to Key West to tour a few homes and enjoy a very special event highlight at a time when the weather is really nice and most of the spring break crowds have dissipated. Find all the information you need at the official airshow website, get advance tickets at early-bird pricing, and reserve the last weekend in March on your calendar.
Our Customers Speak
Every month in this space we extend our cordial invitation to connect with us here at Bascom Grooms Real Estate for all your Key West real estate questions and needs. As always, that invitation stands and we welcome you to get in touch, but this month, we will yield the floor to a couple of our happy clients from both the buy and sell sides of the market.
“Bascom Grooms did an excellent job of showing me multiple properties in a short period of time. I came into Key West for only a weekend to try to find the house of my dreams and we did it in one day. He was easy to contact and returned my texts and emails promptly with any questions that I had during the buying process. He explained everything extremely well, including complicated issues and questions about things such as assumable flood policies and how to find homes with discounted wind insurance rates. I am now lucky to have the house of my dreams that I can actually afford! Thank you Bascom!” coolbreezecg5 – Buyer (Big Pine Key)
“Amazing broker and amazing team! I tried out a few agents and I wasn’t fully content with experience. Bascom came recommended by multiple people I know so I decided to give it a try and I am so thrilled I did! He stayed on top of everything and managed to deal with a few not so simple situations with ease. I sold my house and now I am purchasing a new one all through Bascom Grooms! I will always use him from now on! Thank you Bascom, you and your team are the best!!!” M.A. – Seller 2/2025 (Key West)
We are so pleased and proud to receive the continued trust and support of our clients and our island community, and we look forward to serving your real estate needs here in America’s Caribbean Paradise. If you are considering a move in 2025, be sure to contact us for information on buying and selling Key West and Lower Keys real estate.
Bascom Grooms Real Estate—1110 Truman Avenue, Key West Florida—(305) 295-7511—info@bascomgrooms.com
