Sarasota's Pending Sales Jump 38% In January! The new year in the Sarasota real estate market started off with a bang as the number of pending sales jumped 38% over the previous month to a total of 963 new contracts. This is a very strong signal that the new year will be even better than last year since the number of pending sales is a forecast of actual sales in the coming months.
Actual closings were down in January, but this lull is to be expected as a kind of hangover from the month of December when most potential buyers and sellers are more focused on celebrating the holiday season than real estate. There were 513 transactions in January, 365 single family homes and 148 condos.
"There has been a clear trend in recent years of a January drop in overall closed sales, but we are very encouraged by the pending sales numbers," said Sarasota Association of Realtors President Laura Benson. "Many of these transactions will close in the next few months, so I'm hoping for a big February through May for our local real estate market. In the past few years, March has seen a huge sales surge that has continued through the early summer months. From what we're hearing from our members, and the actual pending sales figures, it appears we'll be repeating the pattern in 2012."
The median sales prices for both condos and single family homes in the Sarasota real estate market also rose in January. The median sales price for single family homes has been fairly steady over the last few months, but did rise to $162,000 in January versus $160,000 in December. The condo median price had a much higher increase in January to $180,000 compared to December's median sales price of $150,000.
The inventory of properties for sale in the Sarasota real estate market stood at 4,711 in January compared to 6,047 a year ago, another healthy sign. If inventory continues to drop along with a strong sales record we could see pricing begin to increase.
Areas of concern continue to be the large percentage (40%) of distressed sales, speculations on the"shadow inventory" of bank-owned properties yet to come on the market and the large percentage of all cash transaction (60%). How these will play out over the next several months is well worth watching. In the meantime, the Sarasota real estate market continues to get better with every passing month.
"We were recently ranked number five in the Realtor.com top ten list of Turnaround Towns in the United States," noted Benson. "That was very exciting, as the study measured factors like year-over-year median price appreciation, inventory reduction levels, and the improving unemployment rate. The report said we are leading America's housing sector towards a general recovery. That's fantastic news!"
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