Best July on Record – 2011 Home Sales in South Walton

by Murray Balkcom, Realtor
The Premier Property Group

In June, I reported that the quantity of home sales in South Walton were the second-highest behind only June 2004 (read article). July sales do not disappoint. July brought out more than surf and skim boards to South Walton. July brought out the home buyers! If you’ve been reading my reports, it will be no surprise to see the quantity of home sales is up more than 100% compared to last July when buyers were waiting to see what happened with the oil spill. Our sold dollar volume sky-rocketed by 287% over July 2010. Still, it’s no big deal since we are comparing this year to a major disaster year, right? Wrong.

If we compare the July home sales in South Walton to the previous month, we actually saw a decrease in the number of sales, from 104 sales down to 83  (reported to ECAR at present time), a 20% decrease. However, looking at the dollar volume of sold homes in South Walton, even with a decrease in the quantity of sales, we still saw a 43% increase in sold dollar volume, with$73.4 million reported, the highest monthly volume of home sales ever reported to ECAR since they have kept records, dating back to 1993. This is even higher than the peak of the market, when in 2004, July home sales were reported as only $71.2 million.

Median sales price rose 35% over June. Median sales price is the point where half of the sales are above that price and half are below.

One could only speculate on the reasons for the growth – Low interest rates, uncertainty in the stock market, decreasing inventory, pent-up demand, increasing sales sparking interest in property, or maybe due to new listings coming on the market at prices closer to market value. Days on market for July sales was down to 208 from 243 the previous month. Whatever the reason, the real estate market is hot in South Walton!

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Murray Balkcom is a licensed Realtor with The Premier Property Group, serving  South Walton, including the beach communities of Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, Seacrest, WaterSound, Seagrove, Seaside, WaterColor, Grayton Beach, Blue Mountain Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Dune Allen, and Point Washington.

All sales data referenced above is provided by Emerald Coast Association of Realtors and is thought to be accurate but not guaranteed.