Graphic courtesy RASM: August 2023 statistics.

Even as housing inventory builds in the region, prices in the Sarasota and Bradenton real estate markets continued to climb in August. That could continue for some time as the region remains a sellers market with interested buyers competing for limited stock.

“One of the unique aspects of our local real estate market is the counterintuitive trend where sales are down, but property values are on the rise,” said Brian Tresidder, 2023 RASM President and Strategic Growth and Sales manager at William Raveis Real Estate. “A few factors contributing to this market would include our low inventory levels limiting buyer's options, and the in-migration of people moving to our area that keeps buyer demand relatively high.”

The latest statistics released by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee shows a 2.3-month inventory of single-family homes in the two-county area, and a 2.7-month inventory of condo units on the market.

They could climb gradually as sales have, for the most part, slowed. Combines sales in the region year-over-year dropped to 1,782 in August, a 0.67% decline.

A notable exception to that, single-home home sales in Manatee County actually went up by 6.9% percent from last August. But condo sales in the county declined by 0.8%. Sarasota County saw a decline in both home sales, of 4.9%, and in condos, of 5.7%.

But across the board, prices went the same direction— up. The median sales price for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro region in August was $500,000. But both Sarasota and Manatee actually reported high media sales prices in the respective county markets, with Sarasota’s median home sale worth $519,000 and Manatee’s priced at $525,000.

The metro region in August saw nearly $836 million in total dollar volume for homes and another $245 million in volume from condos.

Pending sales in Sarasota decreased by 15.5% and the same figure in Manatee dropped 4.9%. For Condos, Sarasota saw a more precipitous 20.7% decline and Sarasota saw pending sales go down 4.7%. But this seems to have fed a reduction in options for a consumer, as opposed to reflecting a lack of demand.

The days of homes blasting off the market, however, may be waning. Manatee homes in August were on the market a media time of 33 days, representing a nearly 154% increase from last year. The media days from list to sale for Sarasota was 31 days, up more than 121%. The condo market is seeing the longest time periods since the pandemic for units to remain on the market, a median of 50 days in Manatee and 46 days in Sarasota.

Graphic courtesy RASM: August 2023 statistics.