Watersound & Watercolor Sales

After getting that email from St. Joe, I've been waiting to see the sales on the Walton Property Appraisers website. I'm shocked to see that all of the sales figures for the 6 December records I found we significantly below the previous sale. Not what I expected at all...

360 RED CEDAR WAY

12-20-2007 833,000
01-28-2005 1,250,000
09-03-2004 889,000


12 THICKET CIR

12-20-2007 1,005,000
03-25-2005 1,500,000


1253 WESTERN LAKE DR

12-05-2007 762,500
03-28-2005 1,350,000
03-15-2004 715,000


132 SANDY CREEK DR

09-21-2007 930,000
05-19-2006 1,018,200


LOT 5 CERULEAN LANDING AT WATERCOLOR

12-19-2007 550,000
08-30-2005 925,000


LOT 20 WATERSOUND BEACH

12-06-2007 950,000
09-22-2005 1,791,000
09-25-2003 756,500

Why does it surprise you that current sales prices are lower than prices paid in 2006 and 2005? Hasn't that trend been apparent for quite some time now?

Prices have fallen back to levels paid in 2004 in many cases. The real question is--will they fall back to 2003, 2002 or earlier levels?

Watercolor actually had much better sales activity than any other community along 30A in 2007. Based on the activity in Watercolor during 2007, it does appear that prices began to stabilize in 2007 after falling dramatically (with the exception of some fire sales by unfortunate owners). Phase I houses have been holding steady in the general range of $575 to $600 per square foot. Phase II prices seem to generally be in the $400 to $450 range with Phase III being in between the other two. Standard Phase II and Phase III lots (non waterfront or unusually large or backing up to hwy 395) seem to be stabilizing in the range of $300k to $400k after peaking at over $700k in many cases.

One reason Watercolor likely had more activity in 2007 than other locales is that some owners began to get realistic about pricing. In Watersound, Alys, and Rosemary, it appears that owners still haven't gotten the message that the market is trying to send.

I live in Nebraska, but love coming down to the area. We usually stay in Seaside, but I really like the homes in the WC area. Can someone contact me on how I would go about looking for a place? I've always wanted to look around, but have never had the guts. Can someone help direct me? If things are like this I may need to jump into the market.

I'll be down between the 7th and 10th of Feb.

Love SoWal

I live in Nebraska, but love coming down to the area. We usually stay in Seaside, but I really like the homes in the WC area. Can someone contact me on how I would go about looking for a place? I've always wanted to look around, but have never had the guts. Can someone help direct me? If things are like this I may need to jump into the market.

I'll be down between the 7th and 10th of Feb.

Love SoWal

Is your PM box full yet?

Why does it surprise you that current sales prices are lower than prices paid in 2006 and 2005? Hasn't that trend been apparent for quite some time now?

Prices have fallen back to levels paid in 2004 in many cases. The real question is--will they fall back to 2003, 2002 or earlier levels?...

I'll share some sales numbers from Emerald Coast Association of Realtors:

All prices are average sales prices for the year

Detached Single Family in SoWal, less area from Sandestin to Destin
2004- $757,173 - tot # of sales - 827
2005- $882,860 - tot # of sales - 619
2006- $1,016,281 - tot # of sales - 267
2007- $937,532 - tot # of sales - 361

Is the trend really apparent as you say? Yes, in a few cases, prices are back to 2004, but in most cases, they are closer to 2005 prices, on average. I'm sure there are some individual properties which will take us back to 2003 prices, but on average, I think the trend is not so apparent, if we are looking the big picture of sales. Maybe areas like WaterColor and WaterSound, just ran up in price more quickly than other areas, hence a bigger drop in WC and WS, when compared to other properties in SoWal.

In comparison to the larger area of SoWal, not including the area from Sandestin to Destin, Here are the average sale prices per year for Single Family Detached homes in WaterSound and WaterColor (sorry, but 2004 not available)

2005- $1,754,294 - total sales for the year- 38
2006- $1,585,993 - total sales for the year- 37
2007- $1,361,830 - total sales for the year- 65

Note the almost doubling of the quantity of sales from 2007 compared to 2006, as the price has decrease and the inventory has increased.

I'll share some sales numbers from Emerald Coast Association of Realtors:

All prices are average sales prices for the year

Detached Single Family in SoWal, less area from Sandestin to Destin
2004- $757,173
2005- $882,860
2006- $1,016,281
2007- $937,532

Is the trend really apparent as you say? Yes, in a few cases, prices are back to 2004, but in most cases, they are closer to 2005 prices, on average. I'm sure there are some individual properties which will take us back to 2003 prices, but on average, I think the trend is not so apparent, if we are looking the big picture of sales. Maybe areas like WaterColor and WaterSound, just ran up in price more quickly than other areas, hence a bigger drop in WC and WS, when compared to other properties in SoWal.

Can you attach number of units to the info above?


.

Thanks, Shelly. I edited the post to include quantity of sales. Interesting reversal between the general area and the narrowed focus of WS and WC. In the general area, quantity of sales has decreased from 2005, yet avg sales price has increased. It is just the opposite for WS and WC in particular.

(BTW, the general area results in the first post include the sales in WC and WS. )

one other tidbit some may find interesting for watercolor is that the number of YEARS it would take to sell out the listed inventory went from a little over 2 in 2005 to a little over 4 in 06 and 07...

I'll share some sales numbers from Emerald Coast Association of Realtors:

All prices are average sales prices for the year

Detached Single Family in SoWal, less area from Sandestin to Destin
2004- $757,173 - tot # of sales - 827
2005- $882,860 - tot # of sales - 619
2006- $1,016,281 - tot # of sales - 267
2007- $937,532 - tot # of sales - 361

Is the trend really apparent as you say? Yes, in a few cases, prices are back to 2004, but in most cases, they are closer to 2005 prices, on average. I'm sure there are some individual properties which will take us back to 2003 prices, but on average, I think the trend is not so apparent, if we are looking the big picture of sales. Maybe areas like WaterColor and WaterSound, just ran up in price more quickly than other areas, hence a bigger drop in WC and WS, when compared to other properties in SoWal.

I believe this thread is asking about WC and WS. In Watercolor and Watersound, the trend is definitely apparent. But, to address your point, across Walton County, house prices are about where they were in 2005, condo prices are about where they were in 2005 BUT lot prices are down by about 35% BELOW 2004 prices. A bit of a mixed bag with raw land prices way, way down versus 2004 and homes and condos at 2005 levels across Walton County.