August 25, 2019 Sarasota County: Incubator for National Housing Trends Back in February I predicted a Market Shift in the Sarasota County Housing Market.  Coincidentally, in the Real Estate Section of yesterday’s Herald Tribune, syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman reported nationally, what I predicted 6 months ago for Sarasota County.  [...]

SARASOTA COUNTY: Unit Sales Strong.  Low Inventory.  Prices Sluggish. Home & Condo Sales Report for the month of July 2019     July was a strong month for pending sales and closings in Sarasota County.  782 single family homes went under contract in July, an increase of 17.6% from the 665 pended sales in July 2018.  Similarly, 764 [...]

SARASOTA COUNTY: The General Housing Market for the Average Joe. Home & Condo Sales Report for June 2019   One of today’s lead off, front page stories in the Herald-Tribune was titled “High-end home sales strong, again”, with the luxury market defined at $3 million plus.  That’s good, because rising tides should raise most [...]

SARASOTA COUNTY: Steady as we go … with a watchful eye. Resale Housing Report for May 2019   I expect the Fed will cut rates this year.  It will ease, not tighten monetary policy, as the economy shows signs of weakness.  In 2018 the US added 233,000 jobs per month.  But, in May 2019, it slowed to 75,000, and wages increased a tepid [...]

Home Prices Level Off in Sarasota County  April 30, 2019 Home prices have leveled off, as Sellers lower their expectations.  The uncertainty in the market over the past 6 months has largely been due to a weak European economy, the trade tariff dispute with China, and a volatile equity market.  They are showing varying signs of [...]

  All in all, March was a good month for home sales in Sarasota County.  Inventory levels, both closed and pended, which began to rise in the 4th quarter of 2018, receded in March, although they remained higher than the same time last year. The real strength was in sold homes, up 34% from last month; under contract, up 26%.  The result [...]

In February, the trend of increasing inventory and price stabilization continued unabated. I’m often asked, “How’s the Market”?  As in all aspects of life, it often isn’t black or white, i.e., Buyer’s Market or Seller’s Market.  More often it is shades of grey, a little bit of both, somewhere in between.  In February it was [...]

I believe we are caught in the cross-hairs of a Market Shift.  In January, Listings increased dramatically, while Sold Homes decreased, pointing to a Buyer’s Market.  Of the homes that sold, there was a slight increase in the sold price.  This may be a carry-over from the fall of 2018, when there was less inventory.  If inventory [...]

  Now that we have the final stats for December, I can conclusively call 2018 the year we went from a Seller’s Market to a Neutral Market.  Heading into 2019, we are trending towards a Buyer’s Market.   Here’s why.  December 2018, the number of new listings increased, while the number of sold and pending listings decreased, with [...]

2018 was a Neutral Market, balanced between buyers and sellers.  Prices for all Single-Family-Homes increased within a 4-5% range.  The average sold price per square foot rose 4.2% to $197/sq. ft.; the median sold price increased 5.2% to $282,000; and the average sold price was up 4.9% to $386,000.  The inventory of homes for sale based on [...]