Lack of Inventory Impacts Sarasota, Manatee Homes Prices, Sales

SARASOTA-BRADENTON, FL — With low inventory in Sarasota and Manatee counties, newly listed properties are selling quickly, lasting about six days on the market, on average, according to data released from the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee.

Because of this historically low supply of homes, closed sales took a dip in February and the number of pending sales and new listings have decreased for both single-family homes and condos, according to RASM.

“The February 2022 housing statistics indicate just how low inventory is and its impact on our market. There simply aren’t enough homes to sell, leaving us with fewer closed sales than the previous year,” said Tony Veldkamp, a RASM president and a senior advisor at SVN Commercial Advisory Group.

The overall closed sales in both counties decreased by 17 percent in February with 1,811 sales when compared to the same time in 2021. Compared to January, February sales were up 2.6 percent month over month.

In the single-family home market, closed sales in Manatee County increased year-over-year by 4.3 percent to 559 sales and decreased in Sarasota County by 16.8 percent to 691 sales, RASM said.

Closed sales for condos decreased in both counties — down by 16.8 percent to 247 sales in Manatee and down by 39.4 percent to 314 sales in Sarasota.

With only around half a month’s supply of inventory, the median sales prices continue to increase year-over-year in both counties. Single-family homes in Sarasota County increased year-over-year by 25 percent to $449,900 in February. In Manatee County, single-family home prices increased by 25.8 percent to $478,000.

For condos, the median price in Sarasota increased by 29.9 percent from last year to $368,630, while Manatee condo prices increased year-over-year by 41.3 percent to $325,000.

The number of properties added to the market in February decreased year-over-year by .4 percent for single-family homes and by 11.2 percent for condos. Since last month, new listings for condos increased by 3.4 percent from January, while single-family new listings decreased by .8 percent from the previous month.

Properties are selling in just under a week with the median time from listing date to contract date reported at six days for both property types, compared to 16 days this time last year for single-family homes and to 30 days for condos, RASM said.

At the end of February, there were 1,287 listings combined in both counties, down by 4.5 percent from January of this year and down by 42.6 percent from February 2021. Unsold inventory sits at a .6-month supply for single-family homes and at .5 months for condos.

The inventory of single-family homes decreased year-over-year by 35.2 percent in Sarasota County and by 27 percent in Manatee County. As for condos, Sarasota is down by 63.2 percent from last year and Manatee decreased by 48.8 percent.

Local Realtors Discuss the Market

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

“It’s been nuts. Really, it’s been nuts,” said Peter Klein, a licensed broker associate with Coldwell Banker Realty.

He tends to divide the market into two sections — homes under $500,000 and those over $500,000.

“Anything under $500,000 is just flying off the market. It doesn’t matter the condition. It’s just crazy,” he told Patch.

The number of people retiring or moving their families to Florida from out of state remains steady, Klein said. “That’s just driving the demand for that kind of home and keeping the prices up.”

This makes it difficult for the average person locally to buy a home, he said. “How do you compete with someone who has $500,000 cash because they sold their home in New York or New Jersey or Michigan or wherever. How do you compete now that they have all this cash?”

And even though higher-priced luxury homes over the $500,000 price point tend to stay on the market longer, “it’s still faster than pre-pandemic,” Klein said.

"More than ever, we're seeing that influx of people. It's really ramped up," Banning Tibbetts a realtor with Keller Williams on the Water in Bradenton told Patch. "A lot of people are retiring and just moving down here. While that used to be 80 to 90 percent of (buyers) now it's maybe half. The rest are people working remotely. If they don't have to be in a big city anymore — L.A., New York, San Francisco — why would they when they can be by the beach somewhere like Bradenton?"

Alexandria Twigg, a realtor with Keller Williams on the Water in Sarasota, told Patch that many of her clients are drawn to Florida because of how open it's been during the pandemic and its politics.

"The majority of my clients moving here from other states are those who like the way our state is ran, they like our governor," she said.

On top of that, there's no state income tax and the state is more affordable than other places, she said, adding, "And they didn't want their kids wearing masks in school."

There are other factors affecting the affordability of homes in the region, as well, Veldkamp said. “The recent uptick in mortgage rates is beginning to impact affordability for many, especially for first-time home buyers looking to buy as a reaction to rising rent prices.”

Some experts don’t see the market cooling down significantly anytime soon.

“If you're a first-time homebuyer in this market, good luck,” Tibbetts said.