Data Analysis

Destin was the only Florida metro where condo sales fell in July

Condo and townhouse closings dropped 11.4% along the Emerald Coast while every other metro in the state sold more. The median fell with them.

Florida Realtors reported 101 condo and townhouse closings in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metro in July, down 11.4% from a year earlier. Statewide, condo closings rose 11.0%.

Okaloosa and Walton were the exception in both directions. The condo median there was $491,000, down 4.2%, in a state where the condo median did not move.

Single-family in the same two counties went the other way: 668 closings, up 12.3%, at a median of $445,450, up 0.8%.

The year does not read like the month

Year to date the Emerald Coast condo picture is the opposite of July's. Closings are up 6.1% for 2026 so far, at a median of $520,000, up 4.0%. That is one of the stronger condo year-to-date figures in the state, against a statewide condo median down 1.0%.

Single-family year to date is up 17.5% on closings, the largest volume gain of any Florida metro, at a median of $450,000, up 6.4%.

So a metro running well ahead of the state for seven months posted one negative condo month. At 101 closings, that is a small enough sample that a single slow month says less than the seven behind it.

What our own data adds

Our Okaloosa and Walton figures cover 99% of what Florida Realtors reported for July, which is close. Our coverage of July 2025 was 90%, and that gap is the problem: a year-over-year change computed across it would credit our own widening coverage to the market.

So we publish current levels from our data and not the change.

The median closed price across the two counties was $522,356 in July. Half of what sold went under contract within 55 days. Sellers received 96.2% of original list price, which is a narrow concession by Florida standards and puts the Emerald Coast in the top third of markets we cover on seller leverage.

Our monthly series for these counties also shows a step up in March 2026, from 558 closings in February to 769 in March. That looks like our feed's coverage widening rather than the market jumping 38% in a month, which is the reason for the caution above.

What this does not mean

An 11.4% decline in condo closings is thirteen sales. At that size, a percentage change is a fragile way to describe a market, and the year-to-date figure points the other way.

A 4.2% decline in the condo median does not mean condo values fell 4.2%. Shift the mix toward smaller or inland units and the midpoint drops with no owner's value moving.

Nothing here forecasts August, and a metro median is not an appraisal.

If you are in this market

Buying a condo in Okaloosa or Walton means a segment where July was slow and the year has been solid. The median is $491,000 for the month and $520,000 year to date, which is a wide spread for one market and a reminder that the specific building matters more than the metro figure.

Buying a house there means the fastest-growing single-family market in Florida by volume, up 17.5% year to date, with the median up 6.4%.

Selling in either segment, sellers here are netting about 96 cents on the original dollar after roughly eight weeks. That is a stronger position than most of the state.

If you own and are not selling, neither the month nor the year describes your property.

Limitations

Every price and volume figure above is published by Florida Realtors, not computed by us.

Our own coverage of Okaloosa and Walton reached 99% of their July count but only 90% of the same month last year, so we do not publish year-over-year changes from our data for this market. The levels quoted from our figures are current-month only, and they will become comparable once the pre-2026 history is backfilled.

Destin is also one of the markets where our new-construction and resale counts do not reconcile to total closings, so no new-construction figure appears here.

Florida Realtors' figures are preliminary and subject to revision by its source.

Sources and links

• Florida Realtors, Statewide by Metropolitan Statistical Area, July 2026
• Data hub: /data/destin/
• Tool: /tools/florida-flood-insurance-calculator.html

Disclosure: Jon Brooks is a co-founder of Momentum Realty, a Florida real estate brokerage that owns and funds Florida Housing Intelligence. Momentum has a financial interest in Florida real estate transactions, including in markets named here. See our editorial standards.