Destin Real Estate Market Stats

Real Estate continues to be local in nature - if one was to look at a weather map - one would be more concerned about the local weather and less about the weather in areas 400 miles away - and so it is in real estate.

The concept of FIFO - is applicable here as well - the Destin Florida real estate market was arguably the first to crash - the fall began in September 2005 and it is showing signs that it is also going to be among the first out of this prolonged (3 1/2 years) downward market adjustment. The Destin to Seagrove Beach to Rosemary Beach real estate markets appreciated faster and higher than most U.S. real estate markets; we have also fallen faster and deeper.

The spreadsheet below demonstrates the comparison between last 6 months to  the same 6 months the year prior of the Destin real estate market; specifically this area includes properties located from the Destin bridge to the east end of County Road 30-A. These stats come directly from the Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS MLS Database.

The spreadsheet above shows that over the last six months that inventory has fallen on average 15% per month while sales (Pending Sales) are up over 20% per month and Sold or recently closed sales on average are up over 10% per month with a average reduction in Expired Listings falling more than 20% per month. So we can here less inventory and more sales consistantly for the last 6 months - is this a trend, I suggest it is.

Those of you waiting for the bottom, I suggest you are seeing it here, like any yard sale those who show up first get the best choices and those who show up later get what was picked over. Yes this inventory will be replced by more inventory and yes these sellers will be less inclined to negotiate as aggressively as todays sellers.

This morning I read the article below published by the Housing Predictor an Independent Real Estate Market Forecaster and was written by Mike Colpitts, this article supports the senerio outlined above.

10 Signs to the Bottom of Real Estate Markets

The bottom of each real estate market in America won't occur with much fanfare. In fact, few people will realize that it's even happening when they do, and they're usually only recognized after the bottom has already hit.

The search for the elusive bottom to any real estate market is akin to finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Once they're fully realized, the elevator is usually on the way up and higher prices follow.

Bottoms to real estate markets are a lot like trying to determine when stocks in financial markets are at their lowest price. Veteran investors say it's a fool's game to try to find the bottom to make a buying decision because as you wait, study and calculate the tendency is to over analyze as the market makes its own moves and often leaves you in the lurch.

In these increasingly complicated financial times, troubled by the credit crunch finding a market's elusive bottom is no easy task. But here are 10 signs to ponder on whether the bottom of your market is near:

1. The inventory of listings is reducing as properties come off the market, especially those over priced places that have been sitting on the market rotting. Noticing fewer for sale signs in that neighborhood you're interested in buying a home or condo in these days?
2. The Mass Media spurs interest with talk of a bottom. Newspapers and television reporters speculate and ask the experts if a bottom is occurring like it's a national real estate market trend when all markets have their own local bottoms and are scattered over time.
3. Sales volume begins to pick up, slowly at first as pent up buyer demand results in more showings.
4. People are less fearful of the market.
5. People begin to talk about how much money there is to be made investing in real estate again.
6. Increasing telephone calls to realty offices on listings and for sale by owners.
7. The Fed finishes tinkering with interest rates at least for a while, trying to get a handle on how the markets are moving.
8. People commonly talk about the bottom occurring like it's a thing of the past with increasing consumer confidence.
9. Prices finally seem to stop dropping.
10. Financing becomes easier to obtain.

There aren't hard and fast rules to insuring that your real estate market is at the bottom. All bottoms are different after all, but one thing's sure. The bottom of markets have historically been for a much shorter duration than the top, which is one reason why most property owners are secure in their positions. Statistically, very few real estate buyers make their purchases at the bottom or the top. Most buy some where in between.