Since mortgage lending interest rates have gone up following historic lows, the real estate market has slowly been heading toward normalcy.

But cash buyers don't need to pay attention to any of that. And according to the Realtor Association of Sarasota-Manatee's most recent numbers, a little more than half of all closed sales in Sarasota County last month were cash—like this lot at 2501 Casey Key, which recently sold for $6.5 million in cash. (Sought-after Casey Key may actually be immune to market shifts. Another lot down the street, at 1912 Casey Road, sold for $5.2 million this month.)

As with many purchases in this price range, this one is on the water. Mother Nature really served up some rare amenities here, since the property stretches from the Gulf to the Intracoastal waterway, where the buyers—who currently own another home on Casey Key—intend to build their “forever home."

The property was originally listed for $7 million in March, and the buyer and seller negotiated for nine months before coming to terms. The .75-acre property is on one of the highest elevations on Casey Key and includes 100 feet of private beachfront with access to Blackburn Bay, plus a deepwater dock and boat lift on the Intracoastal.

Previous owner Matysiak Stanley purchased the property in 2015 for $2.6 million. A two-story, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom home at the address was destroyed in a house fire in December 2020. (No one was home at the time.)

The sale marks the highest price for a vacant residential lot on Casey Key since Stephen and Tabitha King spent $5,325,000 million on theirs in 2006. Not bad company to be in.

Lisa Napolitano of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty’s Venice office, represented the seller while Valerie Dall’Acqua, of the company’s downtown Sarasota office, represented the buyer.