Just returned from 5 days in PCB. Spent a few hours each day shopping for a condo and talking to locals. Some random thoughts on the condo market there:
Occupancy rates very low. Rental rates lowest I have ever seen and I go every year in the off season. We rented a 1300 square foot beach front condo in a brand new building for $70/night and that included taxes and cleaning fee. Less than a motel room costs. Last July I rented another brand new penthouse 2 bedroom for $100/night.
Foreclosures seem to be increasing sharply. Quite a few new ones in the last few weeks.
The real estate market is off course flooded with condos and several very large buildings are about to open. 1000+ new condos about to come on line.
Beach erosion is a real problem in PCB. Treasure Island is brand new and at high tide the ocean is only 50 feet from the structure's foundation. There are now several areas where the old beach houses are "stilt houses". I saw several where you could still see the original concrete clinging to the piers that was once a walkway and is now 8 feet above the level of the sand. The older condos seem to have the best beaches as they were built farther back. Except Pinnacle Port which has one condo building where the ground floor units flood when a moderate storm hits. It is only about 30 feet from the water and not elevated at all.
I read a long article this week about rising oceans. No matter what your politics, if the beach buying public ever factors in the loss of beach in future years it could really hurt PCB as it is not very high above sea level.
My gut feeling is there are simply not enough buyers for the glut of condos now and soon to be on the market. Prices have continued steadily down for 2 years. With arms resetting, rental income decreasing, and taxes/dues increasing I since more decline coming.
Many realtors there are claiming that this must finally be the bottom (they all and I mean all point to the airport as the market's savior). I figure even if this is the bottom with the huge amount of inventory at best prices will stabilize. And there are a dozen other projects waiting to start flooding the market if it ever does show any signs of life. So I can't see a rapid run up. I figure I will just wait a while longer and see what happens.
Of course I could be wrong.
JMHO
Flyguy
Occupancy rates very low. Rental rates lowest I have ever seen and I go every year in the off season. We rented a 1300 square foot beach front condo in a brand new building for $70/night and that included taxes and cleaning fee. Less than a motel room costs. Last July I rented another brand new penthouse 2 bedroom for $100/night.
Foreclosures seem to be increasing sharply. Quite a few new ones in the last few weeks.
The real estate market is off course flooded with condos and several very large buildings are about to open. 1000+ new condos about to come on line.
Beach erosion is a real problem in PCB. Treasure Island is brand new and at high tide the ocean is only 50 feet from the structure's foundation. There are now several areas where the old beach houses are "stilt houses". I saw several where you could still see the original concrete clinging to the piers that was once a walkway and is now 8 feet above the level of the sand. The older condos seem to have the best beaches as they were built farther back. Except Pinnacle Port which has one condo building where the ground floor units flood when a moderate storm hits. It is only about 30 feet from the water and not elevated at all.
I read a long article this week about rising oceans. No matter what your politics, if the beach buying public ever factors in the loss of beach in future years it could really hurt PCB as it is not very high above sea level.
My gut feeling is there are simply not enough buyers for the glut of condos now and soon to be on the market. Prices have continued steadily down for 2 years. With arms resetting, rental income decreasing, and taxes/dues increasing I since more decline coming.
Many realtors there are claiming that this must finally be the bottom (they all and I mean all point to the airport as the market's savior). I figure even if this is the bottom with the huge amount of inventory at best prices will stabilize. And there are a dozen other projects waiting to start flooding the market if it ever does show any signs of life. So I can't see a rapid run up. I figure I will just wait a while longer and see what happens.
Of course I could be wrong.
JMHO
Flyguy