Graphic courtesy RASM

New statistics released by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee confirm what agents have known for some time. The real estate market in 2021 ended up shattering records.

While December sales lagged year-over-year, the prices for homes sold in the market reached new heights. The median price of single-family homes in Sarasota County climbed to $435,788, and was higher in Manatee at $460,000. Median condo prices, meanwhile, went to $360,000 in Sarasota and $302,965 in Manatee.

And while combined sales in the two-county region dropped 14.3% from last December to 2,319 closed deals, that’s not because anyone was passing up homes. In fact, 100% of houses across the market sold 100% list price or higher. Moreover, the median sales price for single-family homes was just seven days.

“The demand for housing in our region is strong. As expected, the momentum from 2020’s market carried right into 2021, bringing another banner year of sales and prices,” said RASM President Tony Veldkamp, senior advisor at SVN Commercial Advisory Group. “On the other hand, buyers are facing a lot of competition. Throughout most of 2021, the monthly supply of homes was less than one month.”

For just single-family homes, it was even lower, at 0.6 months at the end of December for homes or condos— Manatee condo inventory actually dropped even lower to just a half a month’s worth of available units.

In total, 28,764 sales were tallied in the two markets for all of 2021. That’s up 14.9% from 2020, a year impacted by the pandemic but which still saw solid activity for most of the year. And virtually all of that was healthy sales; just 114 sales in the region was for homes considered “distressed,” with foreclosures representing only 0.5% of total sales.

The yearly median sales price on homes set at $395,945 for the year in Sarasota and $420,000 in Manatee. For condos in Sarasota, the median price for the year was $315,000 and it was $260,000 in Manatee.

Veldkamp said the high level of activity resulted in a $15.7 billion worth of sales volume. About $4.2 billion of that came in the form of cash deals. 

“We anticipate the price growth and velocity of sales to start leveling off, helping to increase inventory,” Veldkamp  said. “Now is a great time to consider selling your home if you’ve been thinking about it.”

Graphic courtesy RASM