Year End Sales Reports Baldwin County

Enclosed is a Dec 2009/yearend sales report for Baldwin County.

This Data if from all property transactions that have been recorded at the Baldwin County Courthouse.

Please take into account that this does include the entire county and south Baldwin County comprises 60-70% of the entire property transaction volume of the county and in the Condominium category South Baldwin comprises 94-98% of all of the transactions reported.

The report has two main informational boxes, the box on the left contains "Number of sales" and the box on right contains "Dollar volume of sales"

The categories run concurrently within each box. Note: Single Family and Condominium have three categories, new sales, resales and total sales.

Good News!

The 2009 yearend numbers are very encouraging!

Condominium resale category with a year over year (YOY) increase of 12.93%.

Residential lots showed a 4.86% increase YOY.

Single family resales for the entire county only showed a 1.32% decrease YOY.


Bad News

I am certain that by now that you realize I am concentrating on the positives, and if you look in to the New Sales categories you will see alot of huge decreases . Or if you look at the Dollar volumes in the box on the right you will see alot of blood.


In regards to the New Sales decreases in the Single Family category, that category is just going to take more time to recover, foreclosures and unfriendly banking practices are going too continue to wound that sector for some time to come.


In regards to New Sales decreases in Condominiums, you have to realize there are only two new projects on the beach at this time, Turquoise Place and Phoenix West II. At this time the Phoenix West II project is stalled and Turquoise Place is going to be slow closing their $800K-$2Million units. So to translate...... New Sales will be slow for several years to come. It could be four or five years away before we start seeing new developments on the Beachfront! I believe the next beachfront developments we will see will be single family homes, more small hotels (that can find financing) and the beach clubs for larger of beach developments, like The Wharf.

Dollar Volumes

As I said above there is alot of blood on this side of the report. At this time I have no way of forecasting when this bleeding will abate. However I believe we do have a couple of indicators too watch and that is the last two categories in Number of Sales Box on the left, Total Foreclosures and Total Notices of Default. These two numbers will be pivotal as we progress through this year. National forecasters are predicting that we will start to see some improvement in the foreclosure situation.

Where we have been = Where we are going?


Below I have enclosed the Yearend sales reports dating back to 2006 to give you some perspective on where we were before this debacle got rolling down hill. These reports will show you the sales dating back to 2005.


Yearend 2008



Positives

Increase in Resales of Condominiums 10.36%

Negatives

Everything else!

Note the data provider ahd just started collecting data on Notices of default.


Yearend 2007



Positives

They are hard to find in this report
Overall Volume is very high at almost 14,000 properties
Total Foreclosures are only 3% of the Total Sales

Negatives

Every category has a representative negative number!
Foreclosures are just starting to get rolling.

Yearend 2006




Positives

Total Volume 2006 = 17,125 2005 = 21,787 Big numbers!
Foreclosures are practically nonexistent

Negatives

This was the beginning of the beginning and we are just starting to see decreases across the board.


Closing

In closing I want to say our market is definitely starting to turn the corner. What we really need is an improvement in the Banking sector so that we can get the economy going again across the board. Our market has always responded quickly when the economy is in a positive

Our market has traditionally been a second home/investment home market with a big push starting to take place in the retirement sector. Developers need to keep this in mind when designing our future developments. Over amenitize to appeal to their kids and grandkids and keep it simple, convenient and if possible....Affordable!!

Thanks
Chuck

Environmental report may revive projects on Waterway

Originally Published by the Mobile Press Register

Impact study expected to be released in fall; with permits in place, landowners and investors hope to free up land for sale, development

Sunday, August 24, 2008

By KATHY JUMPER
Real Estate Editor

Two years ago, the market was so hot that 14 developers wanted permits for boat slips and condominiums along a five-mile stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Since then, the wilting real estate market has halted, or even killed, many of those projects. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental impact study on those 14 proposals remains alive and is expected to be released later this fall, according to the corps.

That's good news for Mobile native Jim Mattei, who owns 42 percent of the waterway between Oyster Bay and Wolf Bay, the area affected by the study. He wants the marina permits in place so he can sell some of the 400 acres to developers or joint venture on projects there.

"It's so important to the success of this waterway," he said. "I'm a believer in this area, and there are some good opportunities here. We can build a way of life on this water way."
Mattei has a home in Sunset Bay on Bon Secour, where he stays when in town. The founder of Checkers restaurant chain, he has other residences in Palm Beach, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C.
Mattei pulled Waterdance, a planned 770-unit waterway development in Gulf Shores, off the market in 2006.

"Presales were good, but we saw the market becoming fragile," he said. He later sold the 52-acre site to J.P. Morgan Crescent, but still has about 400 acres remaining on the waterway.

A flat sales market took numerous projects off the development table including the 507-unit Portage Crossing and the 1,724-unit 47 Canal Place in Orange Beach; and 191 units in the first phase of Delfino Resort and the 1,000-acre Bon Secour Village, both in Gulf Shores.
Bama Bayou, which is building Gulf World Marine Park, has slowed its construction pace on the waterway in Orange Beach. The project includes up to 650 condo units, a water park, a convention center and retail shops.

"We are currently working to complete our financing," said Rebecca Wilson, a spokesman for Bama Bayou. "Once construction resumes, we will be able to set an estimated completion date."

The developers of The Wharf on the waterway in Orange Beach would like to see Bama Bayou finished and open. "When you come onto the island, you see Bama Bayou," said Alex Baker, president of AIG Baker, the developer of the mixed-use complex. "Obviously, the more the better on the water way."

The Wharf features a 210-slip marina, 15-screen movie theater, retail shops, restaurants and a 10,200-seat amphitheater. The Wharf and Bama Bayou obtained permits for boat slips prior to the corps study.

The Wharf's amphitheater has brought much-needed traffic to the complex, according to Baker. "It's been wonderful," he said. "We're literally faced with a shortage of rentals because of the groups booked into the amphitheater," he said.

Of the 190 condo units at Levin's Bend at The Wharf, just 62 are rental units, he said. AIG is looking at starting construction next year on a condo building with rental units only, Baker said.
A 2,100-seat conference center is under construction at The Wharf and should open in February 2009, he said.

"We have a desperate shortage of meeting and conference space," said Herb Malone, president of the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Wharf's development will be an asset to the community, and the waterway, according to Malone.

"The activity at LuLu's at Homeport Marina and The Wharf demonstrate that people do enjoy the attributes of the waterway," Malone said. "Everyone is confident that development on the waterway will happen once the market stabilizes and comes back."

Andrew Saunders' new boat yard is under construction on the north shore of the waterway in Gulf Shores, with the headquarters scheduled to finish by the end of the year, he said.
Saunders Yachtworks, directly south of Jack Edwards Airport, is going up on land leased from the Gulf Shores Airport Authority, and has about 1,000 front feet on the Intracoastal Waterway. Saunders existing boat facility in Orange Beach will remain open as well, he said.

"We're anxious for the whole waterway to develop, just like everyone else, and we expect that it will," said Saunders, who has his boat slips permitted.
Still, Saunders said, his company is not dependent on the condo and entertainment projects planned for the waterway.

"We're just some boys building our boat yard," he said. "The boat business goes on even though the development business has cooled off." A regional fleet of boats from New Orleans to Panama City, Fla., is the company's market, he added.

Mattei and his staff have spent the past five years working with the city of Gulf Shores and other agencies to bring his property into the city limits, get it zoned and the utilities in place. He would like a marina for each parcel, he said.

"I spent the very beginning of my business career here, but I keep coming back," Mattei said.

"It's the quality of life down here. I've never brought guests here who haven't come back on their own. Alabama is still a strong draw, because of its people."