Report: More homes for sale brings Sarasota-Manatee real estate market closer to balance

Sarasota-Manatee had more homes on the market in October than at any other time this year, and in some neighborhoods more than at any time since early 2020, according to statistics maintained by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee.

A slowing national real estate market has been attributed to the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation. The Fed has repeatedly raised interest rates, which increases the cost to borrow money, weakening demand in the housing market as fewer people take on mortgages. Mortgage rates also hit the highest levels seen in more than 20 years this fall.

Despite the slowing national market, local real estate agents in Sarasota said the rising inventory of homes for sale is actually creating a healthier market than what occurred over the past few years.

“Inventory has been on this steady increase since 2022, and while we’ve hit the highest it’s been all year,it’s still not quite back to pre-pandemic levels,” Brian Tresidder, 2023 RASM President and Vice President of Operations at William Raveis Real Estate, said. “The good news is that we’ve been trending upward and we’re getting closer to the benchmark for a balanced market, which is a 5.5-month supply.”

Realtors calculate months of supply by dividing the total number of listings by the total number of closed sales to get how long it would take to exhaust the existing inventory of homes for sale.

Currently, the months of supply in the Sarasota-Manatee single-family housing market is 3.5 months. At points in 2021 and 2022, there was less than a month of supply.

There were 6,710 single-family homes, condos or townhomes for sale in Sarasota and Manatee counties in October, compared to the 4,568 residential properties for sale in October 2022, according to the RASM data.

With more properties on the market, the median price saw a bit of a drop compared to 2022.

The median sales figure for a single-family home sold in October in Sarasota and Manatee counties was $490,000, 10% less than the $544,343 the median home sale received in October 2022.

While inventory is up like much of the U.S. real estate market, the total number of closed sales were also up in October when compared to last year. Data from the National Association of Realtors notes that home sales across the country in October experienced a 4.4 percent decline in closed sales.

“Compared to the rest of the country where home sales are declining in most markets, our housing marketis telling a different story,” Tresidder said. “This month’s data showcases an increase in sales, a rise in new listings, a leveling of the time from listing to contract, and strong inventory growth – all signs that point toward a more balanced market in our future.”

Real estate statistics from October 2022 may be skewed as the region was dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which likely pushed back some closed sales into November or December.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Homes for sale in October in Sarasota-Manatee hit 2023 high