EXCITING NEWS ABOUT OUR AREA

St. Joe sees bottom of housing market
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. May 7, 2008 (St. Petersburg Times)

Florida’s biggest landowner, the St. Joe Co., believes the housing market may have reached the bottom, pointing to stabilization in the residential inventory.

St. Joe Co. CEO Peter Rummell says buyers must be “retrained” to recognize the importance of making home purchases now. He notes, “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 they’ve gotten to that point.”

Though the company posted a $32 million profit for the first quarter, 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 recently sold to a group of buyers including sportsmen, investors and conservationists for $91 million.