Sarasota February Property Sales Up and Inventories Drop to 6 Year Lows!

Check out the huge increase in pending sales in February. I knew the February numbers were going to be good when I wrote my last post - The market is busy, busy, busy. As you can see both the pending sales and closed sales were up while the inventory decreased.

The Sarasota Association of Realtors issued a press release today - Sales up; inventory drops to six year low in Sarasota market. In the release:

• The number of available properties in the Sarasota real estate market dropped to a six-year low in
  February 2011,
• Sales were up 24.2% from the previous month
• Compared to this time last year, sales were up 27% to 673 total sales, from February
  2010’s total of 528 sales
• There were 472 closings on single family homes and 201 closings on
  condos last month by members of the Sarasota MLS.
• In addition to the positive sales figures, pending sales also registered above the 1,000 level in
  February, with 1,023 total properties going under contract last month. In January 2011, 1,013
  properties went under contract. This statistic is a strong indicator for the next two or three
  months of sales, as pending sales reflect current buyer activity.

Sarasota Association of Realtors president Mike Bruno stated,

"Traditionally and historically, fewer properties on the real estate market usually causes price appreciation,” explained Bruno. “It’s simply a matter of supply and demand. If there are more buyers competing for a smaller number of properties, selling prices are usually driven up. Hopefully, we’ll soon see a return to the traditional local appreciation levels of between 5 and 7 percent annually. That would represent a very healthy market.”

Average and Median Sales Price

Be careful when you read statistics about the average and median sales prices of Sarasota. Often times those numbers are for Sarasota county which includes North Port. Read Michael Braga's article - North Port is dragging down Sarasota county prices. In his articles Braga states,

"The reason the median price is still falling is because there are so many low-priced homes selling in the region (North Port) and they cancel out the uptick in higher-priced sales."

If we can help you buy or sell a home in the Sarasota, Florida area give us a call at 941.812.6272. View virtually everything for sale at our Sarasota MLS Listings search. It is updated daily!