We have been reporting on a lot of of featured homes and villas over the past few months. I’m sure many of you have been following along wondering, “What does the real estate market look like on St. John during this pandemic?”
In order to gain an objectively informed account of this for you, we reached out to Jared Warren, Past President of the St. John Board of Realtors and Broker/Owner of Unique Island Assets. Jared has been working in real estate on St. John for 16 years.
“The real estate market continues to show its resilience as we pass into the fourth quarter of yet another economically disturbed year on St. John with some surprising bright points. As has remained consistent for decades, the demand and desire for St John continues to grow.
Passionate social media groups of an ever-growing dedicated fan-base virally (sorry for the sensitive word) spread the glorious secret of St John. Huge press outlets like the NY Times continue to write articles (mostly good) about this place, driving countless new fans towards our shores.
In addition, the collapsing stability of the “real world” on the Continent sends buyers flocking to remote locations to solidify their safe option to retreat to paradise. This phenomenon is being seen in vacation and rural markets throughout the country. St John is no exception.
The flurry of showings since COVID have put more than 23 homes under contract since March. Some of these deals failed and came back on the market, but 12 of those have closed and 11 are still under contract. The average price of these 23 homes? Nearly $1.75M!!
So what is selling? Check out the listings that closed in 2020 on St John.
One notable sale which tipped the scales a bit was that of the prestigious Kismet which closed for $5.4M in late August. That stunning estate was probably under value and just goes to show that if you have your eye on something, make an offer!
Despite the activity, I would still consider it a buyer’s market with 147 homes currently for sale on St John. Average list price is just over $2 Million, but the median list price is just $1.395 which means half of those for sale are under $1.3M!
Here is a quick run-down of the stats for the rest of the market:
- Land for sale – There are 241 lots for sale right now with a median list price of $285,000.
- Condos for sale – There are 19 condos currently on the market. Median list price is $899,000
- Commercial/Businesses for Sale – 4 commercial listings actively on the market.
Thank you again for the contribution Jared! If any of you have questions about the information listed above, you can contact him directly or leave your questions in the comments!
Wow. I think I remember Kismet being listed for something like 18M back a few years ago?
I think it was Presidio del Mar was listed at 18M and sold at 12M. Its very original listing price was 32M.
Kismet was listed as high as $13.5M, however the price was reduced and it was listed at $5.75M at the time of the purchase. Still, seems like a deal to me on that stunning estate.
Somebody got a great deal Jared.