September 2013 Market update

When I am examining condo sales, I have been looking at all condos that were sold in Panama City Beach. These sales reliably paint an accurate picture of the overall market. However, the pattern did not hold true this month.

While many of the attractively priced condos have been disappearing from the Panama City Beach area, condo sales increased from 91 in August 2012 to 109 in August 2013. An examination of individual sales revealed that many of the sales were condos that are not located directly on the gulf front. Prices for inventory on the gulf have continued to rise, so we are now seeing more of the properties that are not on the gulf front are starting to absorb.

Click on image below to see the full size graph

With this in mind, I conducted another analysis of condo sales, but I only included numbers for sales pertaining to gulf front inventory. The absorption drops as condo prices increase. The new results revealed that sales in the past three months are actually lower than sales in 2012. June 2013 had 78 sales, but June 2012 had 86. July 2013 had 61 sales, and July 2012 had 68. Under the new analysis, August 2013 had 57 sales, and August 2012 had 68. For those three consecutive months, sales were lower than the previous year.

Click on image below to see the full size graph

The Gulf Crest two-bedroom floor plan is one condo that exceeded its traditional price range. Since early 2010, this condo typically ranged between $26,000 and $305,000. The only exception was a 2012 foreclosure which resulted in a sale of $216,000. However, this summer witnessed two sales in the amount of $323,000 and $325,000, breaking the traditional maximum range for this floor plan.