Sarasota Real Estate Market Report - September 2012

Sarasota real estate sales are stronger than they were last year, even though September is one of the slower selling months of the year. According to Sarasota Association of Realtors members, in the month of September 2012 648 properties were sold. This percentage is approximately 14 percent higher than September 2011, which reported 78 less sales in comparison to September 2012. From August 2012 to September 2012 there was a 21 percent decrease, which is what is typically seen from year to year during the start of fall.

In September 2011 there were 140 Sarasota condos and 430 single family homes that were sold in the local realtor market. Those numbers are in comparison to September 2012 where 148 condos and 500 single family homes were sold. Typically realtors tend to see a decrease of sale pendings through the winter until the early spring, which is when they see an uptake in real estate sales. There has been an increase in traffic over the 2012 summer. Open houses are getting more visitors than usual, due to the decreased availability of houses on the market.

According to SAR President Laura Benson, “We have a great demand for homes and potential sellers should it’s a great time to list their properties.” This gives hope to future home sellers in hopes that homes will sell quickly. President Laura Benson also reported that, “Our inventory is now down to 3,460 – the lowest level since 1998. The downward trend in inventory started four years ago, when we had over 9,500 properties for sale.”

September 2011 there was an approximate 4,430 properties on the market for sale, compared to this September’s 3,504. Last year’s total was over 20 percent higher than this year’s total.

Properties that entered into contracts and became sales pending last year were 16 percent lower than this year’s total of 844. That figure is still below August’s total of 953. It’s a good sign that this year’s sales pending are higher than last year averages.

Benson said “For the agents who experienced the down times, this has become a great period of rebound for the market.” He also stated that, “There is a lot of good news out there in the Sarasota marketplace, and the real estate industry has returned to a much healthier place than we were four or five years ago.”

In September 2012 family homes were selling on average for $169,950. This average was considerably close to last month’s total. On the other hand, Sarasota condos for sale prices sky rocketed from August’s sales which were $149,000. Both August and September of 2012 had a $9,000 to $10,000 sales price difference from 2011 in August and September. Over the past 12 months sales prices gradually increased. The average sales price for single family homes has been $170,000. During this same period, the average sales price for condos has been $167,250. In 2011 the average sales price for condos was $163,000. The average sales price for single family homes was $157,500.

From the beginning of 2012 until September, sales prices for condos were at a hefty $178,800 on average. The average sales price from the beginning of the year until now for single family homes was $174,000. Both condos and single family homes sales prices are higher in 2012 opposed to 2011 when they were approximately 8 and 11 percent lower.

The CoreLogic Home Price Index reported that natiowide, sales price are growing. It has been seen that as each year goes by, sales prices of homes are increasing. Last month there was a reported 4.6 percent increase in sales prices, which is the biggest yearly jump since the summer of 2006.

The current sales rate helps to determine the months of inventory. This determines the amount of time it could possibly take for the homes for sale to sell. Single family homes in September represented a figure of 4.4 months of inventory. On the other hand, condos show 8.5 months of inventory. In 2011, single family homes, months of inventory was below 2012’s, while condos months of inventory was above this years.

In the month of November 2008, it had the single highest months of inventory that the market has seen. Condos contained figures of 41.7 months of inventory. During that same period, single family homes had 24 months of inventory. These figures were at the biggest downfall of real estate that the market has seen in a long time. 15.4 percent of the total properties listed for sale include 534 foreclosures and short sales listed in the Sarasota MLS. That percentage is below last month’s percentage of 16.3 percent. According to the beginning of the year’s percentages, that percentage was 18 percent.

Please Email Key Solutions Real Estate Group, or call (941) 894-1255 if you have any questions.