The State of South Walton Real Estate in 2018

SoWal locals know that the real estate market is intense and it's often hard to keep up with the speed of sales and new construction.

And while there's little doubt we have a healthy market in SoWal, there are always questions - and lately the main question is if there is a slowdown. There is always ongoing discussion of the real estate market in the SoWal Forum.

Annual visitors are often shocked how much things have changed since their last visit. South Walton is a beach paradise and thus a place where every other neighbor is somehow involved in real estate. In the first quarter of 2018 single family home sales are up 11% over the first quarter of 2017. The median sales price is up 6.8% with a dollar volume of $703.8 million, and increase of 10.3%. Inventory for the first quarter of 2018 is down 6.4%.

Click to open the Walton County Real Estate Report for June 2018 >

Click to open the Walton County Real Estate Report for the 1st Quarter of 2018 by the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors >

The SoWal real estate market moves up and up and up in 2018, and continues the upward trend we've seen for many years. The beginning of 2018 has brought a lot of sales and new construction. Much of the new construction is for new single family second homes and rental homes with some notable large condominium and townhouse projects. The last few years we've seen the remarkable return of spec homes and pre-construction projects. We've also had some significant commercial projects bolting forward to fill the needs of new businesses and expanding existing businesses.

There's a lot happening in South Walton and sometimes hard to keep up. But we're still a small town where the completion of a bridge or a new stoplight is a big deal.