2009 Nov — South Walton Sales (Homes, Condo, Townhomes)
by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
murraybalkcom@yahoo.com
www.dreamBIGproperties.com
In our area, everything typically comes to a halt in the winter time. Long pants and shoes replace swimsuits and flip flops. After all, we are mostly a seasonal beach community. It should be no surpirse that real estate sales also decrease as winter approaches. Thanksgiving week tends to throw everyone off schedule and out of routine for a week. Then, Christmas season hits, with similar results. People simply have other things on their minds than buying real estate. While November sales are somewhat down as we expect, the real surprise we’ve had this year comes in the way of higher sales in August, September and October, when typically, real estate sales have been slow.
For the first time since July, sales for Homes, Condos, and Town Homes in South Walton, actually decreased in November, compared to the previous month. However, sales for November 2009 still appear to be strong compared to Nov 2008, as indicated in the charts above and below, and some buyers continue to look for good buys, even during the slow season. The chart above shows the number of monthly sales, while the chart below shows the monthly total dollar volume of sold properties, not including residential lots.
Making up 53% of that sales dollar volume are detached homes, with condos representing 43%, and town homes being only 4% of those sales. Inventory continues to slowly decrease as many over-priced listings fall off the market.
Median Sold Price, the best indicator of prices, has continued to hold steady at $350,000 for the months of October and November. (Median Sold Price is the middle number where half of the sales are above that number, and half are below that number.) It is good to see some stabilization in that price over the last seven months. You will notice the six-month moving average (trend) line indicates a fairly level median price and maybe even an ever so slightly tick upward. This is something we haven’t seen since the end of 2002. The chart below is a bit tight, but it gives you a better historical perspective of the median sold price in our area, showing that earlier period from 2000-2003 with more stability market.
Happy Holidays!!!
Murray Balkcom is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker United, Realtors in Seagrove Beach, FL. Murray can be reached at murraybalkcom@yahoo.com. To subscribe to Murray’s real estate updates, go to www.dreamBIGproperties.com and in the upper right corner, submit your email address.
The majority of the data used in the above report is derived from Emerald Coast Association of Realtors and is believed to be reliable but not guaranteed.