St. Joe Company Sees Bottom of Housing Market
JACKSONVILLE, FL - May 7, 2008

The St. Joe Company, Florida’s single largest landowner, believes that the housing market may have reached bottom.

St. Joe Company CEO Peter Rummell, pointing to the stabilization of residential inventory, says buyers must be made aware of the importance of buying a home now.  ‘We have trained people to expect that prices are going to be lower tomorrow than today if they just wait.  So now people are going to have to learn that we’ve gotten to that point.’

The St. Joe Company posted a $32 million profit for the first quarter, but only $9.8 million can be attributed to its residential operations.  Much of the firm’s profits can be tied to the sale of ‘nonstrategic’ land parcels in the Florida Panhandle, including 57,435 acres it just recently sold to a group of buyers including sportsmen, investors and conservationists for $91 million.

Bay County Association of REALTORS® President Jan Cox points to the public awareness campaign titled ‘Gotta Buy Panama City’ (and funded in it’s entirety by Bay County, Florida REALTORS®) as at least party responsible for keeping the Panama City real estate market stable for the last year.  Dissemination of complete and balanced market information, in an effort to educate home buyers that now is the best time to invest in real estate, and echoed in Sarasota, Marco Island, Ocala and Greater Miami, reflects a more positive trend of sales data in these areas.

For additional information on the Bay County Association of REALTORS® or the ‘Gotta Buy Panama City’ campaign, contact the Bay County Association of REALTORS® (Jan Cox, President) at 850-814-2252.  Further information can also be found at www.GottaBuyPanamaCity.com.

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