SARASOTA, FLORIDA, July 11th, 2014 – A vibrant market for Sarasota homes for sale is shaping up this summer, Sarasota Bay Real Estate (SBRE) reports. The realty firm notes that major players in Southwest Florida’s residential property sector have in their pipeline a strong supply of spec homes and buildable lots in anticipation of increased demand.
This supply buildup of the homebuilders comes at a time when the inventory on resale homes appears to be on an upward trend, SBRE adds. Available residential properties stood at a 10-month high with the 4,417 listed on the MLS of Sarasota homes for sale as of December. This compares with 4,288 in November, 4,032 in October, and the 4,188 tally in November 2012.
One strong stimulus to home market demand is the recent declines in mortgage rates which were at their 2014 low going into the first week of June. This drop was contrary to some analysts’ expectations that the Federal Reserve’s taper of its bond-buying economic pump-priming would result in a continuing mortgage rate hikes in 2014.
Notably, these rates declined week-to-week in June. This was despite the Fed starting its taper and further reducing its bond-buying by another $10 billion in February.
D.R. Horton, which has a strong presence in the Bradenton-Sarasota metro areas, is one homebuilder which has established a robust pipeline of spec homes and home lot inventories. At the Rye Wilderness Estates in Bradenton, for instance, this Texas-based company has 13 quick move-in ready homes with floor areas ranging from 2,401 to 3,472 square feet. These are designed with either three or four bedrooms and are offered at prices from the low to high $300s.
There are several resale residences in this community which are priced at the same level. A three-bedroom home at Rye Wilderness built in 2007 with a floor space of 2,966 square feet is currently listed in the MLS with a tag price of $350,000.
The Ashton Pointe, located at Clark Road and Fielding Lane in Sarasota, also have eight D.R. Horton spec homes. Sales are already pending on five of these, mirroring the brisk sales that the homebuilder has been experiencing since January this year. The remaining three still without contracts are five-bedroom residences having floor areas of over 3,500 square feet and asking prices in the $400s.
The Willow Chase in North Venice is another community where D.R. Horton builds. The homes here are priced in the upper $200s and are designed with floor areas ranging from 1,840 to 2,587 square feet.
The company is also set to open its Bay Street project in Osprey in a 30-acre site that it acquired in January last year. This development is geared for condos and townhomes nestled around several lagoons. Pricing has been set starting from the high $100s. Its amenities will include a clubhouse, a resort-style swimming pool, and fitness center.
Moving forward, D.R. Horton’s footprint in Sarasota is bound to get even larger. Recently, it acquired the Sarasota Golf Club which closed operations last year, and conversion of the golf course into a residential community appears imminent. Some residences around the links are currently listed in the MLS of Sarasota homes for sale at asking prices in the $100s and $200s.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, October 7, 2019 – Property values of communities in the Sarasota-Manatee region now face lesser threat from neighborhood eyesores brought about by abandoned, foreclosed homes. Known in the real estate trade as zombie foreclosures, these properties have shrunk significantly in the region. According to an August report of ATTOM Data Solutions, abandoned […] more>>