Panama City, Bay County Housing Markets May Have Turned the Corner
The Bay County housing market made a huge comeback in February, leading the state in percentage of sales over February of last year.
The Florida Realtors Association released February sales figures Friday, and only Panama City showed an increase in the number of single-family existing homes sold in the North Florida housing market.
The local numbers showed sales up 21 percent in Panama City, while Fort Walton Beach was down 27 percent, Pensacola was down by 19 percent and Tallahassee tumbled 20 percent.
Fort Walton Beach was the only Panhandle city with greater losses than the state average.
As far as home prices are concerned for existing property sales, home prices are down 3 percent statewide.
Down 4 percent in Ft. Walton Beach, down 9 percent in Panama City and down 2 percent in Tallahassee.
Maybe the reason Panama City enjoyed more home sales is because buyers got better deals. The median selling price was down about 9 percent from last year, and 6 percent less than the state average.
The existing condominium market in Panama City saw a major jump, percentage wise, although only talking about 20-more units than February 2006. At that time last year, Florida home mortgage rates were higher than right now.
Tallahassee also saw a large percentage jump, while the rest of the region mirrored the declining state average.
Locally, condo prices might have had something to do with the increase. The median selling price for existing condos was down 8 percent from 2006. Experts say cheaper Florida mortgage loans helped spark interest.
They also think housing prices have stabilized and that the outlook for Florida’s single-family residential housing market is brightening, with Florida mortgage costs remaining near historic lows.
In fact, one University of Florida researcher says it doesn’t look like prices are going to fall anymore. However, certain parts of the Sunshine State are very much inflated, so it remains situational.
SOURCE: WJHG-TV
