Bradenton-Sarasota home sales surge
By MELISSA FOLLOWELL
MANATEE –
The Bradenton-Sarasota housing market was the only one in Florida to experience an increase in sales in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same quarter last year.
Existing home sales were up 6 percent, according to numbers released by the Florida Association of Realtors on Tuesday. The median price slid 12 percent to a median of $290,500, good news for buyers.
During the same quarter last year, the median price was $331,100.
In contrast, sales in neighboring markets like Tampa-St. Petersburg were down 37 percent; Fort Myers was down 35 percent; and Naples was down 30 percent. Statewide, sales were down 26 percent.
“It’s all relative because our sales were so dismal, the only direction they could go was up,” said Dan Forbes, co-owner and broker of Premier Team Inc. in Bradenton.
Re/Max Gulfstream’s Ken Miller was a little leery about calling Tuesday’s figures the first step toward full recovery.
“No one can speak from experience about where we are now, but I don’t think you’re going to see any big change until mid-2008,” Miller said.
He agreed the increase in sales was a good thing but says coming off an unprecedented boom makes it even more difficult than usual to predict the path the market will take.
Locally, condos appreciated by 15 percent in the first quarter, with the median price at $312,600.
Although local condo prices inched upward, those looking to buy a home under $200,000 have a chance now that was unheard of just a year ago, said May Aston, president of the Manatee Association of Realtors.
“There are quite a few decent homes under $200,000. Last year, if someone were to ask me for a home under $200,000, I couldn’t have found one,” Aston said.
Forbes thinks there is an underlying demand growing, but many people are waiting to see what the Legislature does about property taxes before making a move.
“I think we are accumulating some pent-up buyer demand,” Forbes said. “I think there are a lot of folks that would like to move that are waiting to see what happens with property taxes.”
Miller said it’s for that reason many who want to make lateral moves are holding back. A significant part of any real estate market are families moving upward to larger homes, but that market remains quite a bit quieter with insurance and property taxes up in the air.
Those who are buying are looking for deals, experts said.
“We are definitely seeing positive numbers,” Forbes said. “For the true, seasoned investor, it doesn’t matter if it’s a buyer or seller’s market, they are looking.”
And what are they looking for?
“Steep discounts,” Forbes said.
Miller agreed. He finds that buyers and sellers are at a standoff, with buyers expecting sellers to cut prices tremendously and sellers expecting to get unrealistic amounts of money in the current market situation.
“If the home was purchased before 2004, they are a little more realistic when it comes to listing price,” Miller said.
During the height of the real estate boom, there was only a 1.7-month supply of homes on the market, but as speculators and other sellers scurried to get out of their homes, that number skyrocketed to more than a 10-month supply.
That tide is finally turning, Forbes said. Currently, there is a 9.7-month supply of homes and with more than 500 sales pending in Manatee County, that supply is expected to decline further.
In an ideal market, there is a two- to three-month supply of homes on the market.
“I think because of our location, we will definitely be one of the first markets to bounce back,” Aston said.
Market analysts said that home prices are staying even with the rate of inflation.
“We see this as a benchmark,” said Wayne Archer, director of the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, in a statement accompanying Tuesday’s figures from the Florida Association of Realtors.
“When prices maintain the same level as inflation, then we’re probably in some kind of equilibrium. It indicates the market is stabilizing.”
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Bradenton Real Estate
