Residential Lot Sales up 132%

Santa Rosa Beach, FL - Residential lot sales are hot in South Walton! In April 2011, Realtors reported 79 residential lot sales according to ECAR, up 20% over March sales. Comparing April 2011 sales to April of the previous year, we see an HUGE increase of 132%! I’m sure that most people will think that the lot sales are up so sharply due to decreases in selling prices, but that is not true. In reality, we find the median sold price up 1.5% in April 2011 ($104,000), compared to April 2010 ($102,500). Average sales price for April 2011 was $213,611, up 42% over April 2010 ($150,139).



Combine higher sales prices with increases in the number of sales and it is no surprise to see the monthly sold volume increasing.However, April 2011 resulted in such great sales volume ($16.9 million) that we have to go back to April 2006 to find the monthly sold volume this high for residential lots in South Walton.



Many would-be sellers have realized that they were so over-priced for this market and they have pulled their properties from the market. Combine that with a steady increase in the number of lot sales and we see the inventory steadily decreasing from our peak monthly inventory reached back in June 2006. Currently, our inventory has decreased by 54% from the peak inventory.



For a long time, I’ve thought that residential lots and condominiums were under-valued in general. Inventories were high and prices were low, yet lot and condo sales greatly lagged behind home sales. Now, we are really beginning to see a turn with people buying lots and condominiums in South Walton.