Often times we get letters (email) from readers asking if anybody is doing detailed real estate analysis on the counties surrounding Leon County (Gadsden County, Wakulla County and Jefferson County). Just recently we received the following from a reader in Wakulla County:
I live in Wakulla and am very interested in the Wakulla market as an active chamber member and serve on a infrastructure committee. Do you have any statistics that just deal with Wakulla that are as comprehensive as what you do for Leon? Thank you for what you do I always enjoy your articles. JS
Unfortunately, I do not study our surrounding counties as diligently as I do the Leon County real estate market because I just do not have the staff to handle the additional work load. We will have a section for surround counties in our real estate newsletter (you can subscribe to it over there —-> in the sidebar). Also, I do check in from time to time in the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog (like when I get emails from readers), so I figured today might be a good time to catch up. Remember, each month’s real estate market summary contains a real estate graph dedicated to each of the surrounding counties, so you can at least get a general feel of the real estate market activity in these counties.
As our most active neighbor, Wakulla County has seen great growth in the recent years. Unfortunately, they have also seen the brakes applied on their real estate market. Unit sales trends show that every aspect of the residential real estate market in Wakulla has really dropped since the first quarter of 2006 (as far back as my data goes).
In the real estate graph above, the blue line shows that single family (SF) home sales have dropped from above 80 per month down to below 40 per month in the past three years. Even more dramatically evident is lot sales (purple line), falling from 190 per month to just 20 per month! I think if I were to run a supply versus demand analysis on homes for sale in Wakulla County, we would find greater than 20 months of supply.
Unlike unit sales in the Wakulla County real estate market, average prices have stayed fairly stable for mobile homes and homes in Wakulla. Average lot values have actually risen over the past three years, which totally comes as a surprise when compared to unit sales dropping so greatly. I suspect people are holding on to their real estate and waiting for prices to return. I just hope they can keep it up for another few years.
You might wonder why the red line (Condos and Townhouses) has such an erratic behavior… Very few condos and townhouses exist in Wakulla County, so that is why the few sales have such a large impact on “average prices.” I would consider the data pool too small to achieve acceptable conclusions on condo or townhouse values in Wakulla.
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Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
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