Florida's Existing Condo Sales Improve in 1Q 2008 Compared to 4Q 2007

Panama City Beach had the second least negative percent change in all the state of Florida according to the numbers below with regards to single family home sale, Q1 2007/Q1 2008.

ORLANDO, Fla., May 13 /PRNewswire/ — Florida Realtors(R) reported positive signs in their local housing markets during first quarter 2008, noting a slower rate of expansion for inventory levels and an increase in
pending home sales (based on contracts signed but not closed) in some areas.

In another positive note: Sales of existing condominiums improved from fourth quarter 2007 to first quarter 2008, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors(R) (FAR). A total of 8,581 existing condos sold statewide in 1Q 2008, an 8.3 percent increase over 4Q 2007 when 7,923 units sold.

“If we look at what is happening month-over-month for 2008, it appears that the bottom [of the housing slowdown] may be here,” says 2008 FAR President Chuck Bonfiglio. “We are now seeing more activity, more sales and even prices starting to rise in some markets. So I believe that there are some really good signs in many areas of our state.”

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May 2008 Panama City Beach Condo Market Update from condosaletrends.com

We recently updated our Panama City Beach condo sales data through the end of April 2008. The statistics don’t look much different than earlier this year. The graph below illustrates the number of monthly re-sales from the 70 Panama City Beach condo buildings in our database. The 2008 monthly re-sales through May mirror the number of re-sales from the same period in 2007 even though there have been a substantial number of new units come on line.

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2007 Panama City Beach Condo Market (cont.)

In an effort to answer some questions about the analysis he provided on the condo market in Panama City Beach, Sam Portmans from CondoSaleTrends.com offered the following:

In order to have an intelligent discussion about market value, market trends, and the data used to evaluate the market, we have to agree on the definition of market value.

There are two relevant types of value, Current Market Value and Speculative Value. Current market value is what lenders and the banking system have agreed to use. When the definition of current market value is boiled down to its essence, it is the highest price that will attract a buyer over a defined marketing period. Implicit in this definition, is that there is always a buyer at market value. Say you have given yourself six months to sell your unit. After six months it has not sold and your Realtor tells you that there are just no buyers out there. What he is really telling you is that there are no buyers out there willing to purchase at above the current market value. If your unit has not sold in six months, it is priced too high to sell. There are always buyers at market value. Buyers don’t care what you paid or what you think your unit is worth. Buyers pay market value 99 percent of the time.

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