Real estate survey shows interesting aspects

Our recent survey on real estate activity resulted in 50 responses and the answers were kind of interesting. We had completed surveys from 22 states and one foreign country (New Zealand). Florida elicited seven responses and Texans responded four times. There were three each from Georgia, Illinois and Washington.

Buyers outnumbered sellers two to one. A total of 62 percent indicated they had bought property in the last year while 31 percent reported having sold during the same period.

Vacant land was the primary item acquired by the survey respondents. Nearly 76 percent reported acquiring open space. Next most popular purchase was a home with a separate hangar (12.2 percent). Homes with a hangar as an integral part of the structure accounted for 7.3 percent while a hangar home and a lot with a home came in at 2.4 percent each.

As we had long understood, property on residential airparks takes longer to sell than like property elsewhere in a community. More than half of those responding (55%)to the survey said the property they purchased had been on the market for more than a year. Properties that had been marketed more than six months but less than a year were next at 20 percent. There were 4 properties that sold in 1 to 3 months (10%).

One to five acre parcels was the favorite purchase with 62.8 percent of all transactions mentioning that kind of property. That represented 27 sales. Properties of less than an acre accounted for just fewer than 28 percent of the activity while those sales of more than 5 acres came in a 9.3 percent.

A selling price of less than $150,000 was noted in 67.1 percent of the closings. Another 23.8 percent went between $150,000 and $350,000. Half a dozen sales came in at $351,000 to $550,000 and sales between $550,000 and $1 million were reported 2.4 percent. Sales over $1 million were also 2.4 percent.

Almost exactly a third of the sales reported were on residential airparks with 26 to 50 lots. Another 31 percent were on airparks with 10-25 lots. Airparks with 51 to 65 lots, accounted for 11 percent of the reported sales while the properties with more than 75 lots came in with 8.9 percent of the sales. The smallest airparks reported the lowest percentage of turnover, 2.2 percent of the reported sales.

Does the airpark primarily appeal to full-time residents or vacation homes, was another question. Full-time was the response for 87 percent of the sales while vacation homes were listed in only 13 percent.

A paved runway was the favored property in 55.6 percent of the sales and a length of 2,500 to 3,500 feet was mentioned in 60 percent of the sales.

The sale was arranged by a real estate agent in 61.2 percent of the transactions and 36.6 percent indicated they handled the deal without any professional involvement.

Advertising in aviation publications brought the most buyers and sellers together at 24.4 percent while word of mouth came in second at 19.5 percent. Advertising in local publications was a distant third at 9.8 percent.

Obviously, what happens in one part of the country or even one part of a state doesn’t mean the same will occur in other areas but the data does provide some broad trends of what is happening at residential airparks.

We welcome your comments and thoughts.