A culmination of events beyond our control has resulted in a booming Seller’s Market. 

Home sales, new and resales, at all price points, whether it be single family, condos, villas or townhomes are slaying it.  Home prices are up, home building is up, pending sales are up, sold prices are way up.  [...]

Last month I reported home sales in Sarasota County rebounded in May.  1,215 pended sales in May 2020.  5% more than May 2019, Before COVID.  I called it a V-shaped recovery. That V-shaped recovery is continuing with increased alacrity.  In June, 1,452 homes and condos (resales) went under contract.  31% more than May 2020.  A [...]

  At the outset of COVID-19, I posited that housing will lead the recovery. Designated by the Governor as an “essential service”, as Realtors we continued to service the needs of buyers, many of whom sold their homes in our feeder markets, anxious to move to our area and begin their retirement.  Many were renting for the season and [...]

Rise in Purchase Mortgage Applications  In further substantiation of my most recent Reports of May 10 and 21 that home sales are leading the recovery (reproduced herein for ease of reference), today the Mortgage Bankers Association (“MBA”) reports for the week ending May 22, a sixth consecutive weekly increase in mortgage [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association (“MBA”), which tracks mortgage applications and purchases, reported yesterday that its index for single-family homes rose for the fifth consecutive week. On Tuesday Fed Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee.  He gave a pretty grim assessment of the state of the US [...]

Let’s not pretend that our perspective in Florida squares with the rest of our country.  Many of us, retired and living on fixed incomes have an easier time with a stay-at-home order than younger generations who are in their wealth building years.  Disadvantaged, poor and struggling workers are falling into an even deeper despair. I [...]

Unlike 2008 when inflated prices and reckless lending paved the way for the Great Recession, as we face COVID-19, housing’s fundamentals have never been better, along with record breaking jobs and economic expansion.  There will be challenges, but the housing market in Sarasota County is positioned to meet them. On March [...]

The Rob Report

By:  Robert Goldman

Published: February 15, 2020

 The impact of the coronavirus on the housing market

 &

Single Family & Condo Sales Report

Inventory low, sales up, sold prices neutral  

SARASOTA COUNTY

February 2020

What impact will the Covid-19 coronavirus have on the housing market?  The next few weeks will be [...]

Strong selling season. Inventory down, sales and prices up. As of the end of January, there were only 4,419 homes for sale (single family and condos).  Compare that to the 5,779 homes for sale one year ago.  That equates to 25% less homes for sale in January 2020 vs. the same month last year.  Although there are less choices for buyers, [...]

In December, single family and condominium home sales closed out the year consistent with 2019 trending sales.  As we ride into the new decade, 2020, I do not foresee any material GEO political/economic, national, regional or local indicators which will alter the current pace and scope of single family and condominium sales in Sarasota [...]