Southwest Florida’s residential real estate world is riding a winning streak, and current market conditions indicate continuing prosperity and growth. That’s the consensus evaluation of the robust home market in 2017 and the strong forecast for 2018 among industry insiders in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Residential real estate in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties, in all price points, all home types, continued its consistent momentum through 2017.  Buyer demand has been consistently high and rising, inventory was strong and is expected to rise, and prices are seeing an appropriately steady increase.

The stock market gains of 2017 are translating into strong cash buyers coming into the market. That said, sellers are also feeling quite confident, making for neither a seller nor buyer’s market which makes a Realtor’s job more difficult!

Across the Sarasota-Manatee-Charlotte market, moderately priced home sales — between $200,000 and $400,000 — continue to be very strong with a 9 percent increase in pending and sold listings year-over-year and an 11 percent increase in the number of new listings over last year.

Homes in this price range make up the largest segment of the region’s market at 44 percent of total sales.  With high demand and an average supply, this will force buyers to move quickly and possibly deal with multiple offer situations.

In the midprice market — from $400,000 to $900,000, which comprises 15 percent of the market — new listings fell in 2017, sales dropped at the lower end and were flat at the higher prices. Sarasota proved to be the exception with a 30 percent increase in pending sales in November.

Across the three counties, the residential luxury market — $1 million and higher, with sales representing 3 percent of the total market — went from fairly calm waters to a tsunami over the course of 2017. Closed sales were up only 4 percent in the first six months year-over-year, but surged a staggering 61 percent from July to November. Pending sales rose 18 percent in the first half of 2017, but soared a staggering 59 percent from July to November.

Despite the market hiccup brought about by Hurricane Irma in September, home sales rebounded quickly. Multiple Listing Service data for the Sarasota-Manatee-Charlotte market confirm that point. In November, closed sales reached 546, an 8.8 percent increase from the same month a year ago. Plus, there were 677 new pending contracts, up year-over-year by 16.5 percent.

The Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee describes the current housing sector as a “healthy market” with combined numbers showing an increase in sales, new listings and prices.

The housing market across Florida also continued its positive streak in November, with more closed sales, more new listings, more pending sales and rising median prices, Florida Realtors data shows. To learn more about the region’s market contact a member of the 9 Core Realty team today!