Being busy doesn't mean that the bottom has arrived or that the market in general is good. Sales volume continues to trend down in Walton county and prices continue to slide.
We are a long way from the bottom. Prices along 30A will continue to fall. Prices in the major developments have been falling for a couple of years and that trend will continue. Unfortunately, a lot of people have lost a lot of money in real cash terms and on paper after buying in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Prices off the beach in most of the big dollar developments have been moving down to the 500, 400 and even 300 dollar per square foot levels. The value of the actual brick and mortar has come down some, but it is the value of the land that has cratered. Land values will continue to slide and it will bring house and condo prices down too. Those lots in Watersound, Watercolor, Alys, Rosemary, etc that sold in 2001 for $150k or so and then for $700k or more at the peak will eventually move back down to the 2001 or earlier levels.
Five years plus before any upward movement begins in overall price levels after bottoming out in 2011. Prices won't move up until inventory levels come way, way down, most of the investors get weeded out of the market and the banks unload all of the foreclosures and short sales that will continue to hit the market.