Bradenton house prices just took a huge jump. Market is running out of houses to buy
The median price for an existing single-family house in the Bradenton area soared to a record $395,000 in March. And the run-up in prices may be nowhere close to running its course.
“Fully half of these sales closed at or over the original list price,” Alex Krumm, president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee, said in a press release.
“This is to be expected in this kind of seller’s market, and we can expect prices to rise sharply for the foreseeable future,” said Krumm, broker-owner of NextHome Excellence.
The median price is the exact midpoint of all houses sold from most expensive to least expensive.
It was a bruising market in March with frenzied buyers going to contract in nine days, compared to 44 days for the same month a year earlier. Cash was king with 307 buyers paying in cash, compared to 175 a year earlier. The median price rose by $75,500 in March, compared to a year earlier.
Manatee County condos reported a median sales price of $245,000, a 14 percent year-over-year increase.
The sales figures for March marked one year since the pandemic arrived.
The Realtor association reported more sales, more new listings, and higher prices than the same month last year. In this seller’s market, homes continue to outpace the available homes for sale.
“The astonishing pandemic rush continues with banner months for real estate nationally. Immense buyer demand continues to drive multiple offers; there simply aren’t enough homes for sale to satiate our market,” Krumm said.
“Half of all single-family homes are closing above list price, our sales volume is more than double what we’ve seen historically in March, and we have fewer than a quarter of the homes we would typically have available to sell,” Krumm said.
In Sarasota County, the median price for single-family homes was $379,695 in March, a 20.5 percent increase, and condo prices rose by 18.3 percent to $289,750.
“A balanced market reflects six months of available inventory. We currently have three weeks of available inventory — and that number is shrinking every day. It remains one of the best times in history to sell a home. Buyers will have to be very patient and more prepared than ever to compete,” Krumm said.
Closed sales increased year-over-year by 47.2 percent to a total of 3,310 sales across the two-county market in March. For single-family homes, sales increased by 37.8 percent to 907 sales in Manatee County and by 40.2 percent to 1,169 sales in Sarasota County. As for the condo market, Sarasota condo sales increased by 62.6 percent to 738 sales, and Manatee condo sales increased by 63.7 percent to 496 sales.
Compared to a slow month of pending sales in March of 2020, the total number of pending sales across the two-county market increased by 88.9 percent. For single-family homes, pending sales increased by 67.9 percent in Manatee and by 75.4 percent in Sarasota. The condo market showed even greater increases in pending sales with a 151.1 percent increase in Sarasota and a 98.1 percent increase in Manatee.
New listings, or the number of properties put onto the market during March, increased for both property types in both counties. For single-family homes, new listings increased by 7.8 percent in Manatee and by 17.5 percent in Sarasota. In the condo market, new listings increased by 19 percent in Sarasota and by 21.6 percent in Sarasota.
For comprehensive statistics dating back to 2005, visit www.MyRASM.com/statistics.
