Monthly Newsletter – March 2018
National Trend
Consumer confidence remains strong as we head into the spring buying season. With economic improvement comes talk of inflation and continued mortgage interest rate increases. Some concern is fueled by further federal deficit spending. Since 2010 federal spending as a percentage of GDP has soared.
Local Trend
Fear of rising mortgage interest rates has historically motivated large numbers of “on the fence” buyers into action. Locally, we expect a significant surge as a result. Despite the favorable conditions that exist today, much inventory remains unsold due to overpricing.
The real estate truth of 100 years ago remains the same today. The only two things that cause properties to sell are exposure and price. Regardless how much a given agent spends on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc., every single listing in a MLS system in the U.S. gets roughly the same exposure. 98 percent of the time, when a buyer comes into town to buy property, they work with a real estate agent. That agent does not look in Zillow to find a suitable property. They look in their own MLS system.
I will close this month with a Y-T-D recap of our diverse market sales statistics:
Single Family Condo
30-A $ 1,140,604 $594,153
Destin/Miramar Beach $ 528,432 $420,941
Ft. Walton Beach $ 243,855 $284,961
Please call us anytime for a market update!
Ed, Terri, Kay, Denis and Tammy