Regional housing showing some life

Here is an interesting article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune about the Sarasota real estate market. Some of the highlights of the article include:

"More homes sold in the Sarasota-Bradenton market in October than any place in Florida besides Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg."

"....perhaps Sarasota-Bradenton is emerging from the doldrums brought on by the 2004-05 housing rush faster than other places in the Sunshine State."

"To evaluate how Southwest Florida compares with the southeast part of the state, prices are the key, said Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant based in Deerfield Beach.

At a median price of $263,900, the typical home now selling in Sarasota-Bradenton has fallen 23 percent from $340,700 two years ago.

In contrast, the median sale price in the Miami metro area has fallen by only 3 percent. In Fort Lauderdale, today's median is only 4 percent less than two years ago, when prices were close to their peak.

"That is one of the reasons there are so few sales in South Florida as compared to a much smaller market like Sarasota," said McCabe. "Because there has been resistance by sellers -- they are still hoping to get those 2005 prices.""

"...there has been a higher level of interest from foreign buyers, particularly Canadians and Brits."

I agree with this. I have had 14 calls over the last 30 days from mostly Canadians and a few Europeans. This is the perfect storm for them. Our prices have dropped in the neighborhood of 30% and their dollar is very strong.

"Inventories remain high

But the number of houses and condos for sale remains at doggedly high levels."

This is true but so many of them have 2005 asking prices.

"Neal Communities said it sold its 100th home this year, outstripping the 88 sold in 2006. "Traffic has changed, and we're seeing an uptick in the numbers of visitors to our communities," said Pat Neal, president of the Lakewood Ranch-based company. Lee Wetherington, president of the Lakewood Ranch home building company bearing his name, also has seen more activity.

"The amazing thing is that we are seeing about a 50 percent increase in traffic, which is a great improvement from last year at this time," he said, noting attention from foreign customers. "There are a lot of buyers out there feeling out the market in Sarasota and Manatee.""

This will be a busy season for the Sarasota real estate market. There will be traffic. It will be interesting to see if the traffic turns into transactions.