From my experience, staging your home for sale can make a dramatic difference in the selling process. If nothing else, properly staging for pictures will attract more traffic even if you have to move items out prior to contracting for sale. The infographic from Florida Realtors below provides more insight.
Single-family home transactions slowed down more YoY in Sarasota County than Manatee in August. It isn’t very often that you see closed sales down, inventory up, and the median sales price rise materially. What I believe it is telling us is that the higher end of the market is relatively stronger now than it was last year when compared to the lower half of price points. The percentage of cash sales rising tends to reinforce that belief. The infographic below from Florida Realtors shows more detail from Sarasota County in August.
The infographic below contains packing tips to help your next move go smoother from Dwellsy via Florida Realtors.
It is good to see home inventory trending up in Sarasota County when compared to last year. That said, much of the inventory is showing a little age as new listings were actually down in July. The volume of transactions continues to be a challenge as the relatively tight inventory and moderate demand are both keeping activity low. Prices have largely stabilized after a significant run-up; however, it wouldn’t surprise me to see significant price movement again this winter during our peak transaction season. See the infographic below from Florida Realtors for more details.
Homebuilder confidence experienced its first decline this year in August, reflecting the challenges posed by a 7% mortgage rate and dwindling housing affordability. The recent report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) revealed a 6-point drop in builder confidence from July, resulting in a reading of 50.