October home sales up 50 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton market

There was an article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune this morning titled - October home sales up 50 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton market. You can read it here.

Highlights of the article include:

• During October, buyers in the Sarasota-Bradenton market feasted on distressed properties and other homes that had undergone big price cuts, driving sales up 50 percent.
• Fearing the $8,000 tax credit for first-time purchasers would expire at the end of November, buyers raced to close on homes in Sarasota-Bradenton.
• Prices suffered in all the activity, though the median in Sarasota-Bradenton remains $10,500, or 7.3 percent, above the low point of 2009 -- a median of $144,000 in February.
• The median price dropped 9 percent to $154,500 from $169,000 a year ago. The October price was down 5.7 percent from $164,000 in September.

• "These are very healthy indications. I feel certainly better about Sarasota," said Lewis M. Goodkin, president of the Miami-based Goodkin Consulting. "The only thing that could make a real difference is the economy itself. If it goes way down, that could put things in a tailspin. But if it does go down, Sarasota will be in better shape that the vast majority of Florida's metro areas."

  Goodkin also sees baby boomers and other retirees taking advantage of the bargain prices, especially in the condominium market.

  "They say 'I'm not going to wait another year -- I'm going to sell my house and I'm not going to get as much as I thought I would,'" Goodkin said. "The demographics of the baby boomer market is better than it has been in decades. The Sarasota market specifically is on its way to a much healthier situation."

   

Above you will see a chart of sales, inventory and pending sales for real estate in Sarasota. Pending sales in October 2009 are 960 units where they were only 547 units in 2008. Sales last month were 654 compared to 552 a year earlier. This is only for Sarasota county and does not include Manatee county. The inventory of homes increased a little bit but that is typical this time of year as people put their homes on the market for the busy home buying winter season.

Give us a call at 941.812.6272 if we can help you purchase or sell a home in the Sarasota area. Visit Sarasota houses to view thousands of properties for sale.

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