Moving into 2019: Sarasota Home Market Trends Upwards


 

SARASOTA, FLORIDA, January 2, 2019 – Growth momentum is on the side of the Manatee-Sarasota real estate market entering into the 2019 post-holiday selling season. Based on market figures from the Realtors Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM) as of November, sales of single family homes in 2018 for both counties appear on track of exceeding their 2017 performance.

In Sarasota County, single family home sales totaled 7,425 units during the January‒November 2018 period for a 2.1 percent increase from a year earlier. Market turnover is even more robust in Manatee County for the same 11-month period during which a total of 5,982 single family homes were sold, a 7.8 percent gain from the comparative timespan in 2017.

For November alone, Manatee single-family home sales rose by 7.6 percent, while a 4.2 percent increase was posted in Sarasota. As of the month, Manatee is just 75 units shy of the 6,057 single family homes units sold in the county in all of 2017. Sarasota, on the other hand, has to generate over 490 single family home sales for December in order to top the 7,912 units sold in the county in 2017.

Good Omens: Pending Sales, New Listings

November’s new pending sales, an indicator of future market performance, indicate Sarasota could top that 490 figure. New pending sales for the county during the month was recorded at 540 single family homes, and hope could likewise be pinned on December sales traditionally closing strong. In Manatee County, pending sales is just as encouraging, too, with 447 new contracts just waiting to be closed.

A good omen can likewise be drawn from the November uptick in new listings and inventory that allow more picks for buyers of Manatee‒Sarasota homes for sale. November’s combined new listings of single family homes in the two counties rose by 2.9 percent, while overall inventory for these residential types is 9.9 percent higher than a year earlier.

Breaking it down, single-family homes’ new listings rose by 6.2 percent in Sarasota and by 5 percent in Manatee. Sarasota single-family homes inventory as of November totaled 3,131 available properties, up by 16.3 percent, while those in Manatee increased by 4.1 percent to 2,229 units.

New Builds Sweeten Buyers’ Choices

Significantly, aside from pre-owned Manatee and Sarasota homes for sale, new builds are revving up their presence on the market. Recent market listings include those in several new communities, such as Canoe Creek and Del Tierra.

Del Tierra, which is located in East Manatee, added over 20 new listings in the November-December period at prices approximating the current median price of Bradenton homes for sale around the low $300s. All of these are two-story residences suited for growing families, featuring floor plans ranging between 2,368 and 2,807 square feet good for four to five bedrooms.

Canoe Creek, a newly launched subdivision of Neal Communities and likewise located in East Manatee, has five listings in the MLS of Bradenton homes for sale. These new residences are priced from the $200s up to the $400s and are designed with floor areas measuring between 1,493 and 2,300 square feet designed with two to three bedrooms and two baths.