Why Do Port Saint Joe Pages Disagree on Prices and Supply? Reading the Beaches, the Town and the Census Vacancies

Why do the Port Saint Joe medians differ so much?

The pages differ in what they count. Redfin's $439,730 is a three-month median for the city ending in July. The tracker's $489,900 is six months of closings in the postal area, and its $414,950 is twelve months. A market data page's $459,900 is twelve months for the city, and the same page for the postal area shows the same $459,900 on 207 sales, against 129 for the city. Realtor.com's $467,450, for August, is for the city and is up 23.05% on the page. A public-record data page shows $432.9K for the city on 39 sales over twelve months, and $477.8K for the postal area on 48 sales (Public-record data page, Port Saint Joe). Those counts of 39, 48, 129, 207, 298 and 434 cannot all describe the same twelve months.

The conflict inside the tracker is the sharpest. Its 12-month report counts 298 closings and its six-month page counts 434, which is 45.6% more in half the time, computed here. The six-month median of $489,900 is 18.1% above the twelve-month median of $414,950, and its middle half runs to $778,000 where the twelve-month report stops at $519,900. The pages say the counts are a tracked sample and not a market total, and the pages do not say how the two samples differ. A seller cannot treat either median as the town's number.

The trend is also unclear. Redfin shows $439,730, up 10.5%. Realtor.com shows $467,450, up 23.05%, and its listing median of $722,400 is up 4.41%. The market data page shows $459,900, down 3.4% for the city and down 1.7% for the postal area. The public-record page shows a 34.0% drop on 39 sales. These are different windows and different samples, and the direction of the trend depends on which page a seller reads. This brief does not give a direction for Port Saint Joe prices for that reason.

The Census is a check on the level, not the trend. The Census median owner value is $378,500, with a margin of error of $28,667, 7.6% of the value. It is owners' own estimate over five years and not a sale price. It is 86.1% of Redfin's median and 82.3% of the market data page's $459,900, computed here, and the median household income is $64,681, so the market data median is 7.1 times the income, a rough ratio of two medians. The Census median is lower than every sold median, as expected for a five-year owner estimate across all homes, including older and inland homes.

The weekly report shows how much a small sample can move a number. In the week of September 21 to 27 the Forgotten Coast closed 13 homes on $9.02 million of volume, from $259,900 to $2,425,000, with an average of $693,477. In the beach corridor, seven homes averaged $723,614, but the report says that without the top sale of $2,425,000 the other six came in around $440,000. Port St. Joe itself closed one home that week, at $299,900. A median built on a single week in town would be $299,900, and a median built on the coast would be far higher. That is the arithmetic behind the spread on the pages, and it is the report's own point that one sale at the top can lift an average without moving the middle.

How many homes are for sale in Port Saint Joe, and what does that say?

The supply counts are the widest gap in the pages. A local brokerage's weekly report for September 21 to 27, 2026 says Port St. Joe had 76 active listings, down from 83 the week before, with 3 homes pending, down from 8 (Local brokerage weekly report, Forgotten Coast). A market data page counts 37 for sale and 17 pending for the city on October 1, and 86 for sale and 24 pending for the postal area. The tracker counts 220 for sale and 8 under contract for the postal area on September 21. Realtor.com shows 657 homes for sale for Port St. Joe in August (Realtor.com, Port St. Joe housing market).

The highest count is 8.6 times the lowest, computed here, and the postal area counts of 86 and 220 differ by 2.6 times between two pages ten days apart. Realtor.com's own page contradicts itself, showing active listings down 18.91% in its table and down 1.81% in its text. It also shows a median asking price of $722,400, 54.5% above its own sold median of $467,450, computed here. The most plausible reading is that Realtor.com's count and median cover a wider area than the town, perhaps including the beaches and the county, but this is an inference, labeled as such, and the page does not say.

The weekly report puts the supply in months. It says the Forgotten Coast has 539 residential listings, 9.6 months of supply at the week's pace and 12.0 months on the three-week average, and that Port St. Joe's three-week supply rose to 10.5 months from 9.6. It also says the St. Joe Beach to Mexico Beach corridor has 218 active homes, the deepest on the coast, and Cape San Blas 140. A town with 76 homes for sale beside a corridor with 218 is a different market from the corridor, and the report says so. The report is a local brokerage's own commentary and was not independently checked.

The island and the Cape tell the same story in other terms. The report says St. George Island closed three homes from $335,000 to $1,250,000, with 105 active listings and a three-week supply of 9.1 months, the tightest of the four areas. Cape San Blas closed two homes, at $420,000 and $660,000, and the report says the entry end of the peninsula moved while the Gulf-front end did not. A seller in town who hears that the coast sold a $2.4 million home should not expect the same buyer, and a seller on the beach should not expect the town's $299,900 to be a guide. These are the report's descriptions of one week.

The pace and price pages fit a slow market. Redfin shows 110 days, the market data page 103 days for the city and 126 for the postal area, and Realtor.com 102 days. The market data page shows homes selling at 93.4% of asking in the city and 91.5% in the postal area, and Realtor.com shows 97%, or 3.3% below asking, for August. The spread between 91.5% and 97% is 5.5 points, computed here. On a $460,000 sale, 3% is $13,800, an illustration of the size of the gap and not a measure of any one sale. The market data page also says 21% of Gulf County listings carry price cuts, a county figure.

Sources as cited. The windows, areas and measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

What does the Census say about Port Saint Joe homes, owners and vacancies?

The Census postal area that includes Port Saint Joe has 6,477 housing units and 7,510 residents. Detached houses number 4,930, 76.1%, and attached houses 228, 3.5%. Buildings of two to four units hold 477, 7.4%, buildings of five or more units hold 481, 7.4%, and there are 248 mobile homes, 3.8%, and 113 boats, vans or other, 1.7%. It is a place of houses, and a median is a comparison of like with like more often here than in Burlingame or Daniel Island. A postal area with 6,477 homes and 7,510 residents has fewer than 1.2 residents per home, computed here, which points to the vacancy below.

Vacancy is the defining figure. The Census counts 2,769 vacant homes, 42.8% of all units. Of them, 1,469 are seasonal or occasional, 53.1% of the vacant homes and 22.7% of all homes, 700 are for rent, 25.3%, 26 rented but not yet occupied, 121 for sale, 4.4%, and 453 other vacant, 16.4%. The 121 homes vacant and for sale are 1.9% of all units, computed here. These are five-year averages and do not measure how many homes are on the market on any one day, but they show that a large share of the housing is second homes and rentals, which fits the pages' talk of beach corridors and a Forgotten Coast market and is an inference this brief labels as such.

The homes are newer than in most of these briefs. The median year built is 2001. Homes built before 1980 number 1,530, 23.6%, and homes built since 2000 number 3,365, 52.0%, of which 1,745 are from the 2000s, 26.9%, 1,324 from the 2010s, 20.4%, and 296 from 2020 or later, 4.6%. The 1980s are the largest earlier decade, with 995 homes, 15.4%. This fits a market data page's claim that 70% of recent sales were new construction, although the Census counts all homes and the page counts sales. The Census says nothing about the condition of any one house.

Owners dominate the occupied homes. Of 3,708 occupied homes, 3,044 are owned, 82.1%, and 664 are rented, 17.9%. Among owners, 583 moved in since 2020, 19.2%, 1,936 since 2010, 63.6%, 427 in the 2000s, 14.0%, and 681 before 2000, 22.4%, of whom 458, 15.0%, have been in the same home since 1989 or earlier. Among renters, 634 moved in since 2010, 95.5%. Nearly two in three owners arrived since 2010, a sign of a place that has grown through newcomers, and the median rent in the Census is $1,379, against $2,250 on Realtor.com, which is 63.2% higher, computed here.

The rental side is small. The Census counts 664 renter households, 17.9% of occupied homes, and Realtor.com lists only 14 rentals in the city, which is 2.1% of the renter households, computed here. A page that shows a median rent from 14 listings describes a thin sample and not the rents paid by the town's tenants. The Census median rent of $1,379 is an average over five years of what renters actually paid, and the asking rent of $2,250 is what new listings ask, so the two are not in conflict, and an owner weighing a rental route should ask for the leases of comparable homes. Readers comparing markets can also read the Bayshore brief and the South Beach brief.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25024, B25003, B25038, B25004, B25034, B25077, B25064 and B19013. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

The first question is which Port Saint Joe the home is in. The town, the St. Joe Beach corridor, Cape San Blas and the new-construction communities do not share a median, a buyer or a clock, according to the pages. A seller should ask for closed sales on the same kind of street and in the same size band, from the last six months, with the days to contract and the gap between the first ask and the final price. The market data pages put that gap at 6.6% in the city and 8.5% in the postal area, which is more than 6% of the price.

The second question is what a number measures. Ask whether it is the town, the postal area or the county, a median or an average, a listing price or a sold price, and what window it covers. The pages above differ on every one of those points, and a seller who reads the listing median of $722,400 as a sale price will overshoot the market data median of $459,900 by 57.1%, and the tracker's $414,950 by 74.1%, computed here.

The third question is the cost of selling, and the arithmetic is simple. Each 1% of $415,000 is $4,150. At 3% the figure is $12,450 and at 5% it is $20,750. At $460,000, each 1% is $4,600, 3% is $13,800 and 5% is $23,000. At $490,000, each 1% is $4,900, 3% is $14,700 and 5% is $24,500. These illustrate the size of each percentage point and are not quotes of any rate a seller would be charged. No page in this brief names a Port Saint Joe commission rate, and the medians are not the price of any one home.

The fourth question is time and exposure, and the clocks on the pages are long. With about 100 days on the market on the pages and 10.5 months of supply in town, a public listing can mean months of showings, price cuts and neighbors watching. A private sale has no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale. For an owner of a second home, which the Census vacancy figure suggests is common here, that also means no repeated trips to prepare a house for showings and no keys left with a stranger, though that is an inference from the vacancy count and not a finding about any one owner.

The benefits are plain. Maison Off-Market buys luxury homes and estates directly from their owners and speaks only to sellers. A private sale has no showings. It allows closing dates that give a seller time to find a new home. It has no commission costs and no closing costs, and it avoids inspection repairs, though the Census says nothing about the condition of any one house, and it matters for a second-home owner who is not in town to manage a listing. The company does not say that a private sale always beats a public listing, and in a market where one page shows $414,950 and another $489,900, an owner is right to ask what each route yields. If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a Port Saint Joe home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

The tracker pages are commercial pages from one source and contradict each other on closings counts and medians. The market data pages are commercial pages that give the same median for the city and the postal area on different sales counts. The Realtor.com page is labeled August 2026, contradicts itself on the change in active listings, and gives a count that probably covers more than the town. The public-record page rests on 39 sales and shows a 34.0% drop that this brief does not use as a trend. The weekly report is a local brokerage's commentary for one week. Percent changes were taken as printed, and ratios and sums are this brief's arithmetic. The Census figures are five-year estimates for a postal area.

Conclusion

The Port Saint Joe record shows sold medians from $414,950 to $489,900, supply counts from 76 to 657 homes, clocks near 100 days and a postal area where 42.8% of homes are vacant, 82.1% of occupied homes are owned and 76.1% of homes are detached. The pages differ because they cover different areas, windows and samples, and the useful figure for an owner is the one for the same kind of home.