Ep. 5 The Coconut Wire - What's Hot Marathon Homes Florida Keys May 8, 2026

Title: Florida Keys Real Estate Market Action – May 2026
Host: Margie Casey of Florida Keys Real Estate Group

Episode Segments

• Number of homes that closed last week vs week before (01:10)
• Number of homes that went under contract this week vs week before (01:34)
• Number of days on market, this week versus last week  vs week before (01:59)
• Price reductions this week (02:26)
• Number of expired listings indicator (02:43)
• Total number of homes for sale in the Middle Keys vs week before (03:00)
• Number of new listings in the Middle Keys vs week before (03:14)
• Overall Market Opinion (03:33) 

Hidden Gem in Marathon - Key Colony Beach (03:59)

• Key Colony Beach home prices (06:06)
• Closing final thoughts (06:46)

Contact 

Margie Casey | The Brenner Scheel & Casey Team
305-783-3395
flakeysrealestategroup@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Coconut Wire. I'm Margie Casey, your host and real estate expert in the Middle Keys, here to share with you what's happening in the real estate market this week. First, I'd like to wish all the moms out there a happy Mother's Day. If you're planning to take your mom to brunch, here's five fabulous restaurants with ocean views to check out. First, the Butterfly Cafe at Tranquility Bay on the Gulf Side. Salt and Ash at Hawks K Resort is yummy on Duck Quay. The Lighthouse Grilla Marina on the Gulf Side and the Rum House at Grassy Flats is on the oceanside. All wonderful places in Marathon. Just a little bit to the north, Papa Joe's waterfront has some of the most beautiful views in Isla Marata, and the food is excellent. Today we're diving into the latest weekly real estate numbers for the Marathon area. We've got five weeks of data since we started our show, and the picture is pretty clear. This market is stable, balanced, and is showing some interesting signals heading into late spring. Let's break it down category by category, week by week. Let's start with closed sales. Closed sales stayed in the low single digits most weeks at 5, 5, 6, then it spiked at 10 the first week of May and dropped back to 4 this past week. So volume is modest and a bit choppy, but that mid-April spike shows buyers are still capable of pulling the trigger. The next category is under contract. Homes that went under contract. This is a pipeline metric and it's trending upward nicely. We saw 33, then a dip to 11, followed by 39, 31, and a strong 42 homes that went under contract this week. Buyers are putting more homes under contract. That's a healthy sign for future closings. The average days on market for closed sales. Here's a strange number that's very volatile. 127, 82, 186, 132, and this week it jumped to 246. So I said they're all over the place. Let me go back and take a look at November of 2025. That average is 149. The average for this past April was 73. So truly the benchmark is somewhere in the middle, which I've always said is around 120. Price reductions. Sellers continue to make price adjustments. We had 17, 9, 18, 10, and then 16 price adjustments this week. Steady activity in the Mintens show that sellers are staying realistic to get their homes sold. Expired listings, very low and stable at 5, 2, 4, 7, and 5 this week. Not many listings are completely dying. Most are either selling, going pending, or getting a price cut. Your inventory in the marathon, the total number of homes for sale is extremely stable. We're sitting at around 380 to 404 homes for sale over the past five weeks. Almost no movement. Supply is consistent and well balanced. New listings also steady at 5, 10, 10, 7, and 10 new homes hitting the market this week. Fresh inventory is trickling in at a predictable pace. It's a great time for buyers looking for the perfect keys retreat and lucrative for sellers who price their home smartly. Here's my overall takeaway. This is a balanced market. Supply is holding steady, buyer demand is decent, especially in the pending column, but closings are taking longer and sellers are still having to make price adjustments. Nothing dramatic, but the rising days on market suggest buyers have more leverage and are being selective. Now let's take a moment and talk about one of the most charming hidden gems in the Middle Keys, Key Colony Beach. This little island might just steal your heart as it has mine. It is located at mile marker 53.5 on Overseas Highway in the north end of Uptown Marathon. It's connected by a short causeway. This tight little community is often called the Gem of the Florida Keys, and for a good reason. Originally known as Shelter Key, this was a tiny 97-acre low-lying island until 1950s. Visionary developer Phil Sadowski transformed it into the beautiful residential community we know today. The city was officially incorporated in 1957. Today, Key Colony Beach covers about 286 acres and is home to roughly 500 to 800 year-round residents depending on the season. The population swells in the winter when the snowbirds return. It's a walkable, bike-friendly island with beautiful homes, canals, and a really pretty sunset park. With a vacation rental license, seven-day rentals are permitted, making this a hot spot for investors. Waterfront living here is the name of the game, and most of the homes sit on wide canals with private docks, giving quick access to the Atlantic or the Gulf Side via Vaca Cut. You'll find a cute little nine-hole executive golf course, you'll find pickleball courts, a community center, and a beautiful waterfront park where concerts take place on the lawn on Sundays during the winter season. There are several restaurants on the island, tiki bars, and what I love is the hometown parades that happen several times a year, which include the Key Colony Beach Days, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which both happen in March, and they are also known for the lighted holiday boat parade in December. Residents on the island love the fabulous Tuesday farmers market that runs from November through April. By now you must be curious about home pricing in this Middle Keys neighborhood. Low maintenance condos start around 400,000 and most have ocean views. Ground level waterfront half duplexes can be purchased just under 1 million. Elevated canal homes begin just over 2 million with oceanfront estates commanding prices over 11 million. If you're looking for a second home and plan on vacation renting it when you're not using it, Key Colony Beach is somewhere you want to take a look. Be sure to ask about our off-market waterfront properties on the island or elsewhere in the Middle Keys. Drop a comment or send me a message. Communicate however you like to communicate. Next week we'll deep dive into the Sombrero Beach neighborhood, which is just down the road in close proximity to the Seven Mile Bridge. That's your Middle Keys snapshot for this week of May 8th, 2026. We'll keep tracking these numbers every week. Let me know in the comments or direct message me if you are buying or selling or just watching the market. I'd love to hear what you're seeing out there and your thoughts. You can reach me by calling 305 783 3395. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next week. Have a fabulous weekend.