Hey guys, back from my extended vacation on the gulf coast. It was great except for being chased away for three days by a guy named Dennis.
What I noted during my time in on 30-A is a continued softening of the market. While a several high dollar homes have sold over the last couple of months in Rosemary, Seaside, Seacrest, Watercolor, Grayton, etc, the number of new listings hitting the market far exceeds the number being sold. The inventory is building rapidly and those that need to get out of the market are lowering asking prices dramatically. I saw some homeowners drop prices twice just over the past four weeks. Some price decreases over the last few months are in excess of 20%. In Watercolor, there were approximately 125 properties on the market in mid-May. Today the number approaches 180 (that's between 20 and 25% of the total units!!!!). I think Rosemary has close to 100 properties on the market, Seaside 40ish, etc, etc. I believe the inventory growth situation is similar up and down 30-A. That's a bit scary to me. Are all of these folks selling because they need to (are they flippers that never intended to own long term or multiple property owners that now need to dump some investments), are they simply trying to cash out, or are they just testing the market?
I also tried counting the number of properties on the MLS from Sandestin to the east end of 30-A. There are over 700 properties for sale in excess of $1.5 million and another 1000 plus in the $750k to $1.5 million range. At recent rates of sale (based on Walton County tax appraiser site), that makes for about 4, 5 or more years of inventory (as opposed to less than a years inventory last year) of these high value properties and the number is growing weekly. My figures might be off because I am not privy to all the facts that a real estate agent is so someone should check my numbers.
I do believe the market is very desirable and sales will pick up once the prices fall enough and the market stabilizes. I heard a few potential buyers say that they were waiting on the sidelines until things "bottom out" in terms of prices.
Don't want to start another war, just looking to see how others see the current market.
What I noted during my time in on 30-A is a continued softening of the market. While a several high dollar homes have sold over the last couple of months in Rosemary, Seaside, Seacrest, Watercolor, Grayton, etc, the number of new listings hitting the market far exceeds the number being sold. The inventory is building rapidly and those that need to get out of the market are lowering asking prices dramatically. I saw some homeowners drop prices twice just over the past four weeks. Some price decreases over the last few months are in excess of 20%. In Watercolor, there were approximately 125 properties on the market in mid-May. Today the number approaches 180 (that's between 20 and 25% of the total units!!!!). I think Rosemary has close to 100 properties on the market, Seaside 40ish, etc, etc. I believe the inventory growth situation is similar up and down 30-A. That's a bit scary to me. Are all of these folks selling because they need to (are they flippers that never intended to own long term or multiple property owners that now need to dump some investments), are they simply trying to cash out, or are they just testing the market?
I also tried counting the number of properties on the MLS from Sandestin to the east end of 30-A. There are over 700 properties for sale in excess of $1.5 million and another 1000 plus in the $750k to $1.5 million range. At recent rates of sale (based on Walton County tax appraiser site), that makes for about 4, 5 or more years of inventory (as opposed to less than a years inventory last year) of these high value properties and the number is growing weekly. My figures might be off because I am not privy to all the facts that a real estate agent is so someone should check my numbers.
I do believe the market is very desirable and sales will pick up once the prices fall enough and the market stabilizes. I heard a few potential buyers say that they were waiting on the sidelines until things "bottom out" in terms of prices.
Don't want to start another war, just looking to see how others see the current market.
