More bad news for first-time home buyers in Bradenton: Pandemic is pushing prices higher
The COVID-19 pandemic helped push the median sales price of existing single-family homes even higher in May, and further out of reach of prospective first-time home buyers in the Bradenton area.
The reason? Sharply shrinking inventory.
Single-family home prices in Manatee County rose by 1.6 percent to $325,000 in May, due to declining inventory, according to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee.
Bradenton and Sarasota saw a decline in sales and supply, causing median prices to rise again. Pending sales and new listings decreased from last year but month-over-month improvements point to a return to pre-pandemic conditions.
Closed sales declined year-over-year. May of 2020 showed a 43.5 percent decrease to 1,399 closed sales in the two-county area.
Manatee single-family home sales fell by 38.7 percent to 445 sales while condo sales fell by 49.2 percent to 150 sales.
In Sarasota, single-family home sales fell by 41.4 percent to 562 and condo sales fell by 47 percent to 242 sales.
“Our biggest challenge is low supply. New listings have declined weekly and active listings are down as much as 25 percent in one area of the market,” said David Clapp, president of the Realtor Association.
“If you are a property owner and are considering selling, now is the time to talk to a local Realtor about putting your home on the market. Prices are holding strong, there is high buyer demand right now, and the low inventory of homes provides the perfect opportunity to sell,” Clapp said.
The supply of single-family homes fell by 20.8 percent in Manatee and by 25.1 percent in Sarasota.
“Year-over-year numbers are unimpressive for the month of May, but we expected it,” Clapp said. “Our sales are typically highest during April and May. Comparing year-over-year highs to a hit from the pandemic creates a less than positive perspective on the market. The good news is that this hit should just be reflective of these past two months. Since late April, pending sales have been rising each week, with one week in early June exceeding the best week of 2020 prior to the pandemic.”
When compared to last month, the combined pending sales in both counties increased by 80.9 percent for condos and by 60 percent for single-family homes.
Year-over-year, pending sales decreased for condos but showed a slight improvement in single-family homes. For single-family homes, pending sales increased by 10.9 percent in Manatee. In Sarasota, there was no change from last year. The condo market showed a 5.7 percent decrease in pending sales in Sarasota and an 8 percent decrease in Manatee.
Median prices for the condo market increased by 9.5 percent to $229,950 in Manatee and by 1.6 percent to $241,750 in Sarasota.
The number of properties added to the market this month decreased overall from last year but showed improvement from last month. Combined for both markets in both counties, new listings increased by 35.8 percent from April of 2020.
New condo listings increased year-over-year in Manatee County by 7.8 percent. However, in Sarasota new condo sales decreased by 15 percent from last year.
For single-family homes, new listings fell by 11.7 percent in Manatee and decreased by 6.6 percent in Sarasota from May 2019.
The months’ supply of inventory is at or below 4.5 months across all markets in Sarasota and Manatee counties. For Manatee, the month’s supply of condos increased by 4.8 percent to 4.4-months. Sarasota condos decreased by 21.1 percent to a 4.5-months’ supply.
Sarasota single-family homes decreased by 28.9 percent to a 3.2-months’ supply and Manatee single-family homes fell to 3-months, a 21.1 percent decrease from last year.
Monthly reports are provided by Florida Realtors with data compiled from Stellar MLS.
For comprehensive statistics dating back to 2005, visit MyRASM.com/statistics.
