January Housing Market In Sarasota, Bradenton Reports Record-Low Inventory, Rising Prices

SARASOTA-BRADENTON, FL — The housing market in Sarasota and Manatee counties started the year off with its lowest level of inventory ever reported.

In January, the number of closed sales in the region increased slightly for single-family homes, while decreasing for condos, according to data compiled by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. At the same time, the inventory of active listings hit a record low — just 1,348 reported at the end of January.

This means more buyers are vying for the limited inventory available, making it a difficult time to be looking for a new home, according to some local experts.

“I think it’s getting worse. Prices continue to go up and we continue to see multiple offers — cash offers — above asking price made on homes and people are still not winning them,” Linda Johnston, a Realtor with Century 21 All Aces Realty in Bradenton. “I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.”

She added, “It’s like a dog-eat-dog world out there now with what buyers are going through.”

Taking a look at the numbers

The number of single-family homes sold in the region increased by 2 percent year-over-year in Sarasota County in January and 4.7 percent in Manatee County, according to RASM. Meanwhile, condo sales decreased by about 15.1 percent in Manatee County and 23.5 percent in Sarasota County.

By the end of January, all active listings in both counties were down 6.4 percent compared to December and down 54.6 compared to the same time last year.

In Sarasota County, single-family inventory decreased year-over-year by 46.7 percent in Sarasota and by 39.1 percent in Manatee, RASM said. For condos, inventory decreased by 69.9 percent in Sarasota and by 67.8 percent in Manatee County over the same period in 2021.

New listings put on the market in January increased year-over-year by 1.2 percent for single-family homes but decreased by 19.6 percent for condos, the organization said. Compared to December 2021, more new listings have been added to the market in the first month of the year. Month-over-month, new listings for condos increased by 35.6 percent, and new listings for single-family homes increased by 26.5 percent.

Tony Veldkamp, RASM president and senior advisory at SVN Commercial Advisory Group, said there were more new listings in January than closed sales in the region.

“While it’s too early to determine whether this is a trend that will continue through 2022, it is a figure that we will be watching closely,” he said. “As sellers see a continued increase in home prices and interest rates, which eventually will lead toward more supply, they have to decide whether to take advantage of now being the ‘time to sell’ before the market levels off.”

Even with these new listings, the region is experiencing record-low inventory while prices continue to climb. For the third month in a row, median home prices in the area have increased month-over-month, RASM said.

Single-family home prices increased year-over-year by 36.6 percent to a median of $464,500 in Sarasota County, while Manatee County saw a 29.7 percent increase to $480,000, the organization said. For condos, prices in January were $350,000 in Sarasota, a 15.8 percent year-over-year increase, and $301,000 in Manatee, a 30.3 percent increase.

Unsold inventory currently sits at just a .6-month supply for single-family homes in both counties. For condos, supply is at .6-months in Sarasota and only .4-months in Manatee.

In this seller’s market, homes are moving quickly, RASM added. The median time from listing date to contract date is seven days for both single-family homes and condos. And in January, all homes sold at or above their original list price.

Local Realtors respond to the market data

All of this makes it a frustrating time to be buying a home in the region, said Bill Geller, a Realtor and office manager with RE/MAX Platinum Realty of Florida in Sarasota.

“Inventory’s at an all-time low, which makes it frustrating for buyers that are looking for homes. I know personally, myself, over the weekend I had a buyer who made offers on two different homes they really liked over the listing price, and they didn’t get either one of them,” he said. “It’s just an interesting market. Things sell really quickly if they’re priced accordingly…There are many offers being made on the same property.”

Johnston doesn’t see the market slowing down any time soon.

“I, myself, have a customer that bid $50,000 to $60,000 over the list price and have still not won the purchase," she said. "It’s very frustrating — frustrating for buyers and frustrating for agents. We sympathize with these buyers. And I’m talking cash buyers. I’m not even talking about someone that has to get financing."

Sarasota has been a desirable area for out-of-state buyers since early in the pandemic, Geller said. “People are finding from COVID that they have been able to live or work remotely and for a lot of professionals, they can do that permanently. So, a lot of people living in major cities said, ‘Why are we living in snow when we can be living in sunshine?’”

He added, “And Sarasota is so desirable because of the arts community and offerings and because of golf and the proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and boating. There’s so much that is attractive about Sarasota. It’s a big, small city, so that makes it very desirable and increases demand.”

Geller is hopeful that the region’s real estate market will level off this year and there are already signs in some areas that this could happen, he said. “If things level off, calm down a little bit, then 2022 should be a very good year, a very solid year for real estate sales.”

In the meantime, though, buyers should expect more of the same, Johnston said. “I’ve been in real estate for 16 years and I have never seen so many cash buyers than I have within the past year. It’s continuing to increase, the demand for people wanting to move to Florida. The problem is we don’t have the supply.”