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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Update on Airport Construction Progress

I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking what is going on with the airport relocation. Here is what’s going on:

11/29/2007 – Federal judge in New York issued an order to temporarily block construction. The NRDC has also threatened a separate suit against the Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of the 404 permit.
Court date of December 18th was set to determine how “permanent” the stay would be.
12/4/2007 – Airport Board approved funding for around $100 million.
12/10/2007 – December 18th hearing post-poned to January 8th because one of the three judges recused himself
Costs associated with the block of construction are estimated to be in excess of $1 million per month.
12/17/2007 – Three judge panel mandated that the airport authority could authorize “preliminary construction work” that includes preparing the site for construction, surveying the property, identifying wetlands, erecting fencing, perform maintenance of existing roadways and placing of construction trailers. Work to begin January 2nd.
Court hearing set for January 23rd.

That is all I have for now. Randy, or anyone else on the airport authority board, feel free to email me with more information if you like.

Pier Park Pictures – 75 retailers announced

With over 75 retailers announced and more to be announced in the near future, the progress at Pier Park is smoking. I’ve been onsite taking pictures every one to two weeks and I still seem to be getting passed up. I can’t keep up with how quick they are working.

The official Grand Opening for The Boardwalk is on schedule for February 15th, 2008 and will include anchors Margarittaville, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Borders Books and Music, Dillard’s, Fresh Market, JCPenney, and Old Navy. Panera Bread, Target and The Grand Movie Theater are already opened. For those of you who are locals and have not eaten at Panera Bread, I highly recommend it. My wife and I frequent it often and love it.

One of the things that I love about Pier Park is that it isn’t just another shopping mall. The architectural detail and the strategic layout of the entire project is goaled at making you feel good about being there. Paul Adjaharian, Vice President for Simon Property Group, says that it is the goal of Pier Park to make you feel good when you are there, the buying will take care of itself. Pier Park will be a place for people to gather and spend time with one another and family. I know my wife and I will be spending plenty of time there.

One place I can’t wait to spend money at is Margaritaville. I’m looking forward to eating on the second floor terrace watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. The City Pier sunsets are awesome.

Click here for an entire list of announced tenants and a basic map as to where they will be located.

Click here for all the information I have on Pier Park.

Also, below are some pictures that I took on Tuesday.

I’m currently working on the story board for my next Pier Park movie. I’m hoping to start shooting that this week and have the video done by the first or second week in January.