With home prices in Florida still generally on an upward trend, navigating the real estate market has become challenging for both buyers and sellers due to mortgage rates. Currently hovering around 7%, some buyers have opted to put their home search on hold, hoping for a decline in either market interest rates or home prices, or even both. However, is this the most effective strategy?
The biggest difference between Sarasota County and Manatee County this month is that closed sales in Sarasota continued their downward YoY trend while Manatee’s moved up. It looks like Sarasota is still challenged in the lower half of the market as the median sales price continues to rise. That said, the market in Sarasota is still more balanced than it has been in some time. It remains a good time to be a buyer or a seller, but more inventory would definitely benefit the market as a whole. See the infographic below from Florida Realtors for more.
While new listings were down YoY in May, we saw both closed sales and overall inventory rise when compared to May of 2022. The lower half of the market seems to be more active this year as the median sales price is finally moving down a bit. While I would like to see listings and inventory continue to rise, the market is continuing to look healthier now than it did a year ago. It is a reasonable time to be a buyer or seller in Manatee County. See the infographic below from Florida Realtors for more.
The single-family home market in Sarasota County moved largely in lockstep with Manatee in April. We saw the same offsetting market data that leads to neither sellers or buyers having overwhelming negotiating leverage. As we head into the summer season, it looks like the Sarasota County market will remain in a healthy balance. The infographic from Florida Realtors below contains more detailed information on the results from April.
While new listings remain relatively low, the market for single-family homes in Manatee County is continuing to be very healthy. We are getting a mixed bag of signals in the transaction data, which continues to indicate that neither buyers or sellers have a significant advantage in negotiating power. For example, while home sales are down YoY, the median sales price is up significantly. Another set of offsetting data is that while cash sales are down YoY, new listings are also down. As long as we have some statistics that lean towards a buyer’s market and others leading to a seller’s market, we are likely to continue to see market balance in Manatee. See the below infographic from Florida Realtors for more information.
