Sarasota Real Estate News

Sarasota and Manatee County Market Statistics - May 2021

May 2021 Sarasota County Real Estate Market Update 

May 2021 was a Seller's market! The number of for sale listings was down 77.1% from one year earlier and down 9.1% from the previous month. The number of sold listings increased 90.1% year over year and decreased 13.3% month over month. The number of under contract listings was down 4.5% compared to previous month and up 28.6% compared to previous year. The Months of Inventory based on Closed Sales is 0.6, down 87.4% from the previous year.

The Average Sold Price per Square Footage was down 0.9% compared to previous month and up 55.7% compared to last year. The Median Sold Price increased by 4.3% from last month. The Average Sold Price also decreased by 3% from last month. Based on the 6 month trend, the Average Sold Price trend is "Neutral" and the Median Sold Price trend is "Appreciating".

The Average Days on Market showed a downward trend, a decrease of 48.4% compared to previous year. The ratio of Sold Price vs. Original List Price is 98%, an increase of 6.5% compared to previous year.

 

2021 May Sarasota County Home & Condo Statistics

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Tampa Bay Housing Market with Liane Jamason

Josh Sidorowicz (anchor):

It has been one of the interesting paradoxes of this pandemic.

On the one hand, as we report so often, so many people are struggling with unemployment to pay their rent and their bills. On the other hand, this Realtor say it's unlike anything they've ever seen. Prices are soaring in houses. They aren't selling in days. They are selling within hours.

I spoke with bay area realtor Liane Jamason. She's been doing this for 15 years. She knows her stuff and she told me that at the rate we are going if no new homes were to come onto the market this area would essentially run out in less than a month. So, here's some of her advice if you're looking or if you're thinking about listing.

Liane Jamason (St. Petersburg Realtor):

Literally right now we have 27 days of homes left in Pinellas county and Hillsborough and Pasco are about the same. We're just at the lowest inventory we've had in 25 years. It's a crazy market.

Josh Sidorowicz (anchor):

Why is it so crazy? There's a number of factors and the pandemic is one of them right?

Liane Jamason (St. Petersburg Realtor):

Correct the pandemic is part of it. We saw a lot of sellers not wanting to put their homes on the market because they were afraid of having sick strangers coming into their homes, coupled with really low interest rates and coupled with people that are working from home now. And you know maybe both spouses need a home office or something like that and decided that they really need more space or they want that pool if they're...

Where are the Listings? Why Homeowners are Staying Put

Housing market inventory remains tight as homeowners hold onto their homes longer. The typical homeowner in 2020 had remained in place for 13 years, up slightly from 12.8 years in 2019 – but well ahead of 2010’s reading of 8.7 years, according to an analysis by Redfin.

About 1 in 4 U.S. homeowners has lived in the same home for more than 20 years, the study found. Still, even with the pandemic, home sales raged in 2020, pushing activity and sales prices to new heights.

However, homeowners who decided not to sell did so because of pandemic concerns and concerns about finding a new house in a competitive market. Many also enjoyed ultralow interest rates after a refinance on their current home that made it more advantageous to stay put.

A drop in sellers as owners stay in a current home longer forces the real estate markets to tighten, including the Sarasota and Manatee County areas.

Inventory sank to its lowest level in decades. This past December, Sarasota County had 2,394 active listings which was 43.3% fewer properties than December 2019. Manatee County had 1,552 active listing, down 46.1%. At the current sales pace, there was a record-low 2 months’ supply of homes on the market in December for Sarasota County (down 47.4% from December 2019) and 1.7 months' for Manatee County (down 51.4% from December 2019). See our Market Statistics for a break down of the market.

The market’s home shortage and low borrowing rates have pushed up prices and increased buyer competition, Median Sale Price in December 2019 reached $278,200 in Sarasota County and $288,000 in Manatee...

Quay Sarasota Plans Start Taking Shape

Plans are starting to fall into place for Quay Sarasota! GreenPointe Developers, and real estate investment firm Cross Lake Partners have laid out a vision for the 14-acre waterfront district at the end of Fruitville Road in Downtown Sarasota. Luxury residences, upscale retail, boutique hotel, state-of-the-art office space bordering the bay, and now builders, Lennar Multifamily Communities (LMC) and Kolter Urban, are committed to bringing part of the vision to life. In a news release shared by the Quay Sarasota, these builders, collectively, closed on nearly 3 acres of land and have announced plans for a luxury condominium and a luxury high-rise apartment complex. “We are pleased to achieve this milestone at Quay Sarasota,” Ed Burr, president and CEO of GreenPointe Holdings, said of the closings with Lennar and Kolter. 

Lennar Multifamily Communities (LMC) acquired 1.65 acres to build its first apartment community in the Sarasota market. The 12-story project will have 240 luxury multifamily units with over 13,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Amenities in the community will feature a top-floor wine lounge, catering kitchen, cybercafe, resident lounge, golf simulator, business center, meeting rooms and a fitness center. Residents will also be able to enjoy the resort-style swimming pool, outdoor cabanas with a bar and grill, dog park and bike repair shop. Lennar is setting out to begin construction in May 2021, and estimates its first units will be finished in September 2023. LMC has designed and built multifamily developments all over the county, with 5 projects in Miami and 1 in Orlando. “Our community will be the premier rental destination at the Sarasota waterfront,” said...

Inventory Up 30% - Will Prices Drop?

Typically, when you see consistent demand and a large increase in supply there is downward pressure on price. This doesn't necessarily mean Sarasota home and condo prices will decline. It is too early to for that. It does mean home buyers have more options and sellers have more competition.

Tracking Supply and Demand

The number of Sarasota county listings for sale was up 30.9% from one year earlier and up 4.2% from the previous month. The number of sold listings in Sarasota county decreased 2% year over year and increased 11.2% month over month. The number of under contract listings was up 0.3% compared to the previous month and up 9.9% compared to the previous year. The Months of Inventory based on Closed Sales is 5, up 31.9% from the previous year.

The Average Sold Price per Square Footage was up 1.1% compared to the previous month and up 1.1% compared to last year. The Median Sold Price increased by 2.1% from last month. The Average Sold Price also increased by 3.4% from last month. Based on the...

Will You Make Money Buying Pre-Construction Condos?

Pre-construction condos in SarasotaHave you ever thought about buying a pre-construction condo for investment purposes? This is a game many people want to play and it is usually only played by the wealthy because of the high prices that new downtown Sarasota condos typically sell for.

There can be a mad rush to buy when a new condo building is released. Early buyers will typically buy at lower price levels because the developer will eventually raise prices as more and more condos are sold. Do these investors make any money doing this?

Below you will find a variety of condo buildings in downtown Sarasota. I pulled sales data from when the units were purchased and then sold. It typically takes 24 months to build a condo. The purchase date is when they closed on the property. In most cases the units were sold well before the closing date. For example, unit 1101 in the Ritz Carlton was closed in November 2001 for $1,260,000 but the price was established up to 2 years prior to that when they released the units (pre-construction).

Gain and loss figures do not include Realtor fees as well as the ongoing carrying costs of a condo - association fees, contents insurance, maintenance and property taxes. The figures are purely just sales price. 

Ritz Carlton Residences

  Purchased Purchase Price Sold Sold Price...

Downtown Sarasota Luxury Condo Glut?

Downtown Sarasota Luxury Condos Glut?

There was an article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune recently (read it here) about a new 18 story luxury condo tower will be built next to the Ritz Carlton in downtown Sarasota. The new project will be called The Grande. For those Realtors selling in the mid 2000's, The Grande was a condo project planned to built where The Vue is now sitting. The project was scrapped when the Sarasota real estate market popped. 

The Kolter Group plans on building 86 residences that will offer services managed by the Ritz-Carlton. Prices for 3 and 4 bedroom units will run from $2,000,000 to $5,000,000. The new tower will be built east of the hotel over the support facilities. 

Is there a downtown Sarasota luxury condo glut on the way? 

How Many $2,000,000+ Condos Have Sold in Downtown Sarasota?

2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ...

Lakewood Ranch Inventory Explosion

Are you considering a purchase or sale in Lakewood Ranch? The charts below may assist in your decision.

5 Years of Lakewood Ranch Activity

5 Years of Home Sales in Lakewood Ranch

If you remember back in economics class prices are primarily dictated by supply and demand. Obviously, with an increase in the number of homes for sale in Lakewood Ranch there will be downward pressure on price. That does not mean prices will decline. If demand stays strong prices could stay the same or continue to rise. 

Recent Sales Activity in Lakewood Ranch

Below is a chart of sold, pended sales and active listings for the last 18 months in Lakewood Ranch.

Homes sales Lakewood Ranch

Months of Inventory in Lakewood Ranch

In the last three months Lakewood Ranch's months of inventory rose and is hovering between 6 and 8 months. Prior to January inventory was hovering around 4 months. That is a pretty substantial increase. This is something to definitely keep in mind if you are currently trying to sell your home. 

Months of Home Inventory in Lakewood Ranch

What Should Sellers Do?

If your Lakewood Ranch home is currently listed then you should reassess your position in the market. Here are some questions to ask yourself...

Rising Inventories - Market Shifting in Sarasota?

Is this the end of a boom cycle in the real estate market? It is too early to tell but some believe so. Below I provided graphs of inventories levels in Sarasota, Manatee, Longboat Key, Siesta Key, Lakewood Ranch and the downtown area. 

What We Don't Want

It is part of our job to monitor real estate market stats like inventory levels, sold properties and pending transactions. We just don't want to see this happen again:

The above graph shows January 2004 to January 2006 inventories. They went from a low of 5,002 in September 2004 to 17,457 in January 2006. That is a 349% increase in inventories which ultimately caused the real estate bubble to burst. 

Personally, I don't see this happening. There are several differences between these two markets. Many of the buyers today paid cash which creates a stronger market. Lending guidelines did tighten so most people who bought had to prove income and the ability to repay their loan. Prices escalated but not as quickly as they did from 2003 to 2005.

We will keep watching and reporting what we see. Stay tuned.

Sarasota & Manatee Counties Combined - Inventories up 6.3%

Sarasota County - Inventories up 5.6%

Manatee County - Inventories up 7.3%

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Season Update - What is Happening in Sarasota?

The post below is from our other blog at DwellingWell.com. You can read it here - Season Update - How is the Sarasota Market?

Last month we were one of the first brokerages to start talking about the slow down in the Sarasota real estate market. After I wrote the blog post I received phone calls from many area Realtors confirming the slow down. Some real estate professionals will only talk about a slow down behind closed doors but are afraid to discuss it publicly. The Sarasota Herald Tribune decided to write about it as well - Read here. Here is my original post talking about how January 2016 had fewer home sales than January 2015 - January 2015 vs January 2016

Below you will find data showing sales stats comparing February 2015 to February 2016 as well as comparisons over a longer time period of both January + February of each year. If you want to skip all of the gritty details and just see the conclusions click here

 

Sarasota County 

Below is a chart showing sold, pended and properties for sale in Sarasota county. Compared to February 2015, Sarasota county has 5.6% more homes and condos for sale, 7.8% fewer sales and roughly the same number of properties pended this year. 

 

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