September housing stats for our area are out and, once again, things do look as if there could be optimism in our local markets. Although prices fluctuated significantly this year, some leveling and stability is evident in the month-over-month figures. We have seen a predominantly steady increase in numbers of units sold in our markets.
The smallest area market, Pensacola, noted 275 single family housing units sold with a median price of $135,000. In comparison, September 2008 saw 267 units sold at $146,900 median price. Pensacola's MSA units sold in January 2009 began at 162. Pensacola's condo market saw 48 units sold (34 at the same time last year) at a median price of $190,000. Last year's median condo price in September was $180,000 so that market did see a slight market value increase.
Ft. Walton Beach MSA, an area much larger and encompassing more tourist hot-spots, saw 91 condo units sold at a median price of $297,700. Last year, same month, saw 44 units sold at a median price of $300K. Again, signs of price stabilization. For the Ft. Walton Beach area single family units, data revealed 258 units sold at $198,300 average price. Last September's average price of $192,600 is comparatively about the same but, in September 2008 only 194 single family existing homes were sold.
It is important to note that these numbers are not reflective of new construction units, that data is tracked separately and not considered here. We do obtain all numeric information from the media site of the Florida Association of Realtors.
I'm not gonna jinx us and say too much but...we're smiling a bit more around here!
gchmama