A Peek at the Current Market

REAL ESTATE
NEWS
By Joe Savage,
Real Estate Broker




The data used are for the period January 1, 2013 through May 31, 2013, and for the same period in 2014. The measure for each metric was the median. The “Beach Market” was defined as Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach properties that are "gulf front" or "beachside."

We have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we have seen some price appreciation overall:

PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT, January 1 - May 31

YEAR	BEACH MKT	COMPLEX	PHASE I	PHASE II	PALMS	PHASE III	PUD
2013	$260	$265	$165	$185	$213	$156	$114
2014	$285	$200	$162	$223	$242	$197	$130
GROWTH-%	9.62%	21.21%	-1.82%	20.54%	13.62%	26.28%	14.04%

The number of sales are too few for the per-phase, year-to-year comparisons, but I felt owners might like to know the break down in each phase.

In general, it appears that Plantation Complex is beating the market, but it could be pointed out that it had “more opportunity,” euphemistically-speaking. Either way, it is heartening to see price growth wherever it is.

The bad news is the pace of sales has fallen off rather sharply, relative to the market:

NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD, January 1 - May 31

YEAR	BEACH MKT	COMPLEX	PHASE I	PHASE II	PALMS	PHASE III	PUD
2013	$260	$265	$165	$185	$213	$156	$114
2014	$285	$200	$162	$223	$242	$197	$130
GROWTH-%	9.62%	21.21%	-1.82%	20.54%	13.62%	26.28%	14.04%

While the Beach Market has seen a growth in sales volume of over 25% year-over-year, Gulf Shores Plantation has seen a virtual equal amount of shrinkage. This concerned me, as it makes it appear that the market is heating up, but Plantation is being left out. My first thought was to see if it was “a Fort Morgan thing.” So, I pulled the stats for Beach Club:

BEACH CLUB, January 1 - May 31

YEAR	# UNITS SOLD	PRICE/SQ FT
2013	16	$277
2014	27	$287
GROWTH-%	68.75%	3.61%

It didn’t appear to be a “Fort Morgan thing,” as Beach Club was growing in both pricing and sales volume! Thus, it appears Plantation may risk being left at the station for that “growth-train” if we can’t figure out why our numbers aren’t up relative to our neighbor and the beach market.

Even in this environment, Mandoki Realty remains the greatest promoter of Plantation properties. This is evidenced by its brokerage of 46% of all 2013 sales, of five of the 14 sales YTD in 2014, and of three more Plantation properties currently under-contract for sale. No other single agent or entire brokerage even comes close to this level of performance, so if you are considering the sale of your Plantation property, you can do no better than Joe Savage at Mandoki Realty.

2013 Real Estate Sales Summary - Gulf Shores Plantation Resort

By Joe Savage, Real Estate Broker

This issue of Real Estate News will review the real estate sales stats for 2013 at the Plantation. Below is a table showing the key statistics of units sold at the Plantation for 2012 and 2013. The "price per square foot" metric we use is the median of all the units sold.

#	METRIC	2012	2013	% INCREASE/DECREASE
#1	TOTAL CONDOS SOLD	28	38	35.71%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT	$161.00	$176.00	9.32$
#2	ALL 2BR SOLD	20	29	45.00%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT - 2BR	$161.00	$171.97	6.81%
#3	#SOLD - EAST 2BR	10	13	30.00%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT	$149.00	$162.76	9.23%
#4	#SOLD -DUNES 2BR	6	7	16.67%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT	$180.00	$210.00	16.67%
#5	#SOLD - PALMS 2BR	1	3	200.00%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT	$244.44	$224.04	-8.35%
#6	#SOLD - WEST 2BR	3	6	100.00%
	MED PRICE/SQ FT	$161.00	$167.50	4.04%

Number #1 represents all condos sold at the Plantation, regardless of floor plan, square feet, location and HOA. We had a nice increase in the number of units sold in 2013, especially when compared to 2012 which had a decrease of 33 units over 2011. Compounding the good news is that 2013 was the second consecutive year of increases in the sales price per square foot.

Number #2 represents these same statistics for the sales of 2-bedroom (2BR) units only. These are the predominant floor plans at the Plantation, and so the predominant seller. The influence of 2BR sales on the total statistics can be seen by how similar the price per square foot in the total number of condo sales.

Number #3 represents 2BR sales in Plantation East. Phase I took the biggest hit in pricing during the market-collapse years, as it had the greatest number of foreclosures and short-sales. It is heartening to see prices continue to recover. It is a "fragile recovery" which we hope will continue in 2014.

Number #4 represents 2BR sales in Plantation Dunes (Phase II). The number of 2BR sales was relatively consistent. The pricing increase was notable at almost double the total figure. In looking at the data, four of the seven sales in 2013 were west-facing units with notable updates and upgrades to their interiors. This would suggest that if an owner has not upgraded his/her unit's flooring, cabinets, doors, etc, prices are beginning to recover which may justify such an upgrade investment.

Number #5 represents Plantation Palms which is difficult to analyze because of the small number of units involved. The drop in price can be explained because the one unit sold in 2012 was a top floor, newly renovated unit and all three of the sales in 2013 were lower-floor units, and one of those was a "distress" sale.

Number #6 represents sales in Plantation West (Phase III), which in spite of lower pricing early in 2013, benefited from lower pricing early in 2013, as units with upgraded interiors and/or closer to the gulf were sold. This yielded double in the number of units sold, with early low-priced sales that tempered the overall improvement in price.

In summary, 2013 produced an increase in the number of units sold by more than one-third as well as an increase in price per square foot by over 9%.

Mandoki Realty is proud to have played a significant role in this improvement, having brokered 19 of the 38 condo sales at the Plantation in 2013. If you are considering the sale of your Plantation property, you can do no better than to list with Joe Savage and Mandoki Realty.