Forgotten Coast Real Estate Market Report | April 13 – April 19, 2026

April has a way of announcing itself around here. The Gulf turns that particular shade of green you only get when the sand warms up and the wind settles, the dune grass starts bending the right direction, and the beach roads fill in with rental vans and fishing poles. Spring break is wrapping, the first real swimmers are back, and every porch from the Cape to the Island is earning its keep.

The market followed suit this week. Buyers are out walking properties. Sellers are paying attention to price again. And the spread between the two is where the interesting conversations are happening.

What is the Forgotten Coast real estate market doing this week?
For the week of April 13 to 19, 2026, the Forgotten Coast recorded 4 residential closings and 4 land sales across Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, St. Joe Beach, Mexico Beach, and St. George Island. Active inventory stands at 592 residential listings with 34.2 months of supply, firmly buyer-leverage territory. Well-priced homes are still moving; overpriced listings are sitting.

This Week, At a Glance

Across the Forgotten Coast, active residential inventory sits at 592 homes with 17 under contract and 4 closings on the books for the week. Land continues its own rhythm: 375 vacant lots active, 8 under contract, and 4 sold. Four residential closings against 592 actives is the number to sit with. It is not a crash, and it is not a panic. It is a market that still has real depth of supply, and buyers who know it.

The residential closings ran from $450,000 in Port St. Joe to $1,800,000 on Cape San Blas, with an average of just over $1.13 million for the week. Land closings ranged from $89,250 in Port St. Joe up to $165,000 on the Cape, averaging $114,000. The wide price spread is the story the spreadsheet keeps telling: this coast is not one market. It is four, maybe five, running on their own clocks.

Active residential inventory by area.

Port St. Joe

Port St. Joe posted one residential closing at $450,000, which is a useful number. It sits right in the heart of the town's core inventory and reflects the kind of buyer who is choosing downtown walkability and Reid Avenue over a beachfront view. Active inventory is 110 homes, with 2 under contract. On paper, that is about 25 months of supply at the current weekly pace.

Land in Port St. Joe is a different animal. Only 30 active lots, 2 sold this week, and 1 under contract. The math there tells a cleaner story: land inside the city is genuinely harder to find than the homes that sit on it. If you have been waiting on a buildable town lot, this is not a patient market.

Cape San Blas and the South Gulf

Cape San Blas produced the headline number of the week: a $1.8 million residential closing. Not surprising for the Cape, and a reminder that when the right Gulf-side or wide-deeded property trades here, it trades near the top. Active residential sits at 134 homes with 3 under contract. Land is even deeper, at 146 active lots with one sale at $165,000.

Here is where the water matters. Buyers walking the north end of the Cape keep asking the same question about water clarity, and the answer has not changed. Clear Gulf water runs north. Brackish water runs through Indian Pass and the south Cape. Price follows that line almost every time, and the serious buyers come in already knowing it.

Where the dollars actually landed this week.

St. Joe Beach and Mexico Beach

St. Joe Beach and Mexico Beach were the busiest stretch of the week. Two residential closings, $1,030,000 and $1,265,000, for an average of $1,147,500. Seven properties under contract and 227 actively listed. That inventory number is the highest on the report, and that is the piece buyers should be paying attention to.

Plenty of supply, disciplined pricing, and water quality that holds up right alongside the north Cape. For a buyer who wants beach access and room to negotiate, this stretch is where the leverage is sitting right now. For sellers, it is where pricing has to be sharp from day one. A home priced against the MLS comp from 2022 is sitting on the market. A home priced against what buyers are actually writing today is moving.

St. George Island

The Island did not post a residential closing this week. That happens. It does not mean demand is gone. There are 5 properties under contract, which tells you where the closings will show up in the coming weeks. Active inventory is 121 homes, steady against recent weeks.

Land on the Island had one sale at $112,500, with 73 active lots. If you want St. George specifically, the inventory is there to choose from. If you want St. George this season, the time to be looking is now, not July.

Weekly residential closings by area.

The Land Market

Land moved at the same pace as homes this week, four for four, which is unusual and worth noting. Port St. Joe led with two closings. Cape San Blas and St. George Island each added one. St. Joe Beach and Mexico Beach had none on the land side, despite holding 126 active lots.

Current pace puts the Forgotten Coast land market at roughly 22 months of inventory, which is slower than homes but still well into buyer-leverage territory. Translation: if you are shopping for a homesite, you have time to be selective. If you are selling a lot, you are competing for attention, and price and clear road access are what break the tie.

The land market, area by area.

Reading the Market

Four residential closings projected over a month lands at roughly 17 homes per month across the entire Forgotten Coast. With 592 homes active, that is 34 months of inventory. It is a big number. It is also one week, and spring is just hitting stride, so expect that pace to accelerate through May and June.

Where each area sits right now: inventory on the horizontal, price on the vertical.

What the numbers say, plainly: buyers have options. Sellers who price to the current market are finding them. Sellers who anchor to peak-year comps are watching the calendar move. The 17 homes currently under contract are the next six weeks of this report, and they will fill in the picture the closings cannot yet tell.

What This Report Covers

This weekly Forgotten Coast real estate market report tracks residential and vacant land activity across Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, St. Joe Beach, Mexico Beach, and St. George Island, including active inventory, pending contracts, closed sales, and average sale prices. It is published each week from Port Realty Group in Port St. Joe, Florida.

The Take

Spring on this coast rewards the people who are paying attention. The buyer who walks three properties this month and writes on the right one is going to get better terms than the buyer who waits until July when the family-trip rush hits. The seller who adjusts now, while traffic is building, is going to beat the seller who holds out for a number the market is quietly walking away from.

Opportunities on the Forgotten Coast do not announce themselves. They show up on a Tuesday, quiet, and the person who was already looking gets first crack. If you have been circling a stretch of beach road or a town lot near Reid Avenue, this is the season to have the real conversation.

Ready to talk through what this means for your property or your next move? Call or text me at (850) 340-1213.

Billy Joe Smiley
Broker/Owner, Port Realty Group
Florida's Forgotten Coast

Key Metrics Summary