Manatee-Sarasota home prices rise as sellers gear up for winter

Manatee home prices up as sellers gear up for winter

MANATEE -- Prices were up even as closed sales dropped in September in the existing single family home market in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Local real estate professionals are expecting the market to get better, and to perhaps close the year with the highest number of existing homes sold in the history of the two-county market.

The trends, which have been evident in the market since mid-summer, were reinforced by a low inventory of those homes. According to statistics published by the Multiple Listing Service, 4,119 single family homes were listed for sale in the two counties at the end of September, down 9 percent from the same period in 2014.

Manatee County remained the more expensive place to buy a home, with the median price pushing up a few hundred dollars from August to $265,950. The median price in Sarasota County dropped by $3,500 to $223,500.

Condominiums and townhomes were less tied to trends, with prices and sales for the units rising in Manatee County last month. At the same time, Sarasota County saw its condo marked struggle as sales dropped 10.4 percent year over year and prices fell from August's five-year median high of $220,000 to $192,500 in September, according to the MLS.

In single family and condo markets, less than 3.6 months of inventory remained on the market at the end of the month in the two-county area.

Stafford Starcher, president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota, said September represented "a slight breather" before the winter influx of snowbirds and others looking to avoid cold weather in northern states.

He said he does expect to see more homes come on the market as sellers jump into a market yielding better selling prices month over month.

"Last year and the previous year we saw the inventory rise through the winter months and peak in February," Starcher said. "If that trend continues, local agents should expect a very busy season once again."

If inventories and listings do rebound, the area could see the highest number of home sales in the region's history by year-end, according to a Realtor association press release.

Statewide, most trends held steady. The median price of a single-family home in Florida has remained frozen at $199,900 since July, while closed sales have hovered near 23,600 for two months. The median price in the condo market has also stalled since early summer, sitting at $150,000, as sales trended flat month over month.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Manatee-Sarasota home prices rise as sellers gear up for winter ."