Lower Prices Spark Sales

Sales of property in the Destin and South Walton real estate market have shown a strong return in sales volume for the first time in nearly a year.

Some 201 homes, condos and townhouses closed escrow during the month of March, the second highest number of sales to occur in a year. It was the second straight month to show an improvement in sales volume on the heels of a healthy volume in February.

The increase posted a high 35% improvement over March, 2006 sales when only 147 units transactions closed.

The increase is partially attributed to lower sales prices and improving state economic conditions due to lower homeowners’ insurance rates and the possibility of state lawmakers placing a proposal on the state ballot to do away with homeowners’ property taxes.

The only exception to the improvement in sales during 2006 was in August when 262 units closed escrow, but a large portion of those sales were pre-construction condos already in the pipeline.

The inventory of homes and condos on the market for sale also continued to decrease during the month as many owners took their properties off the market, realizing that they were priced too high for the current market. The Destin market has been hampered by an over-whelming number of over-priced listings on the market listed at unreasonably high prices for present market conditions.

Prices of properties to close during March show a 20 to 30% decrease in market values from two years earlier.

The return of the sky high appreciating market isn’t expected by real estate economists in the area for at least three to five years, which would correlate with normal national real estate market cycles.

However, the second home and vacation market, of which Destin is a part, still remains the strongest single sector of the national real estate market with more baby-boomers desiring a second home or vacation property than in the nation’s history. The boomers are out buying bargains.