February Homes sales in Okaloosa, Walton, Santa Rosa Counties

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February was a strong month for the real estate market in Okaloosa County, as the number of properties sold and the average sales price increased from last year.


Metro Market Trends recently released its February real estate sales reports for Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties. Okaloosa was the only one to show increases in both the number of properties sold and the average sale price compared to February 2011.


“Boots on the ground and ear to the ground with fellow Realtors, the buzz is it’s happening,” said Judi Rutland, a local Realtor and president of the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors. “From the folks coming in to look to the stats in Metro Market Trends, the inventory is down. It’s a good feeling.”

In Okaloosa, 219 single-family homes were sold in February at an average price of $239,301. That’s a 6.83 percent increase from February 2011, when 205 homes were sold. The average sales price was up 18.99 percent.


The average price of a condominium or townhome saw an even larger increase. The average price of the 84 condo/townhome units sold last month was $229,539. That’s a 43.97 percent increase from February 2011, when 69 units were sold with an average price of $159,428.


Walton and Santa Rosa counties’ real estate sales in February were more mixed. Although the number of single-family homes and condo/townhomes increased compared to last year, the average sales price was down.


In February, 135 single-family homes were sold in Walton at an average price of $430,686. Although the number of homes sold was up 33.66 percent from February 2011 when 101 homes were sold, the average sales price was down slightly from $440,353, a difference of 2.2 percent.


The average sales price for a condo/townhome in Walton fell by more than $100,000 between last month and February 2011.


In the condo/townhome market, 71 units were sold in February at an average price of $266,366. A year ago, 67 units were sold in February with an average sales price of $372,568, a decrease of 28.5 percent.


Rutland said she believed there are more condos on the market in Walton County now, which could contribute to the lower prices.


Santa Rosa’s single-family home sales were up 10.6 percent in February, but its condo/townhome sales were down 46.15 percent.


The average price of the 167 single-family homes sold in Santa Rosa was $167,776, an 8.9 percent increase from February 2011, when the average price of the 151 homes sold was $154,064. Only seven condos or townhomes were sold in February at an average price tag of $176,742. That was a decrease of 19.56 percent from last February, when 13 units were sold at an average price of $219,707.


“The outlook going forward is very positive,” Rutland said. “I think it’s very positive for buyers to be getting into the market. We are now hovering near the bottom and they’re going to be the ones that are going to turn around in seven or 10 years and probably look back and have made a good decision.”


Another sign the real estate market is improving, Rutland said, was the increase in the number of home sites that were purchased in February. According to Metro Market Trends, the number of residential lots purchased in Okaloosa County increased from 62 in February 2011 to 75 last month; from 181 in Walton County in February 2011 to 371 last month; and from 30 to 89 in Santa Rosa County over the same period.


Rutland said she believes more new homes being built than the area has seen in recent years.

Walton County Details

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Clear trend upward!