Area News

Double vision: Local condo market up 100 percent in October

It may have been a fall month, but the Florida real estate market did anything but fall in October, according to stats released by the Florida Association of Realtors, that show the existing single-family home market rose 45 percent and the existing condo market 82 points, as compared to last year.

Locally, sales of existing single-family homes paced the State, gaining 44 percent, just a smidgen off at one point under Florida’s average, while far outpacing it with sales of existing condos exactly doubling at 100 percent.

“Many buyers wait until this time of year to purchase a condo,” explained ECAR president Anita Williams, referring to what is known as “the shoulder season,” a time period typically running September through December.

“The ’shoulder season,’ the time between when summer and snowbird tourists typically flock to visit the Emerald Coast, is often considered ‘the best time of year to purchase for a number of reasons,’” added ECAR president-elect Mary Anne Windes.

These include easier viewing of units that are not booked solid like they are in the summer months, and sellers who are typically more willing to negotiate on price because they have already received the bulk of their rental income for the year. Windes also noted that unit renovations are usually performed at this time of year and many buyers prefer to have them done to their own taste and satisfaction.

The Emerald Coast wasn’t the only area in Northwest Florida to report gains in the market. Panama City and Pensacola also showed increases in sales of existing housing, with condos gaining 88 and 14 percent, and single-family homes, 52 and 11 percent.

There has been some speculation that buyers racing to close transactions before the $8,000 tax credit’s original Nov. 30 deadline may have boosted sales of single-family homes. Now the government has extended this deadline, making first time buyers who purchase homes between Nov. 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, eligible for the credit, provided they have not owned a home in the past three years.

The U.S. Congress also recently passed a repeat buyers’ tax credit allowing owners who have used the home being sold or vacated as a primary residence for at least five consecutive years of the past eight to be eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit when they buy a new one.

“On an ironic note,” said Windes, commenting on the recent passage of the tax incentives, “the benefits of home ownership are so prevalent that in the past the National Association of Realtors said the only thing that could make it better is if the government gave away money to buyers when they purchased a home. And now they are.”

However, Windes also noted that the condo market is typically impervious to the sales-boosting effect of the tax-credits.

“Condominiums are typically purchased by investors or higher-income families to be used as a second home, so it’s unlikely that these purchases are attributable to the tax incentive,” said Windes, broker-owner of Real Estate Professionals of Destin.

Even though the market has been on a roll as of late, the pros also agree that it’s in consumers’ best interest to rely on a Realtor for all of their real estate transactions.

In addition to being upheld to a strict code of ethics and readily familiar with properties on the market, “Realtors stay educated to better serve the public,” said Williams, broker-owner of Destin’s The Realty Firm Inc.

This article was contributed to The Log by Emerald Coast Realtors.