Sarasota August 2007 Home Sales

September 28, 2007

Even in a month where unusually weak home sales were common across Florida and beyond, the Sarasota region stood out: August sales dropped to the lowest level for any month in eight and a half years and were the lowest for an August in at least a decade. The median sale price fell on a year-over-year basis for the ninth consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 1,243 new and resale homes closed escrow in August in the Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice metro area. That was down 7.7 percent from July and down 30.3 percent from 1,784 in August 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Sarasota region sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 23 consecutive months.

Last month's sales were the lowest DataQuick has on record for an August and the lowest for any month since January 1999, when 1,222 homes sold. The firmï¿½s complete home sales statistics for the Sarasota region begin in 1997.

The median price paid for all homes combined - new and resale - in the metro area encompassing Sarasota and Manatee counties was $257,050 in August. That was up 2.1 percent from $251,650 in July but down 1.8 percent from $261,800 in August 2006. The median stood 8.4 percent below the record $280,700 median in June 2006. The year-over-year change in the median sale price slipped into single-digits in August last year and went negative in December.

August's $257,050 median for resale condos fell the most among home-type categories, declining 13 percent from August 2006. That put the resale condo median nearly 25 percent below its $265,000 peak, reached in both April last year and January this year. The $250,000 resale house median in August was 3.8 percent lower than a year ago but 16 percent lower than its $297,500 peak in August 2005.

The median price paid per square foot for resale houses, another price gauge analysts track closely, fell to $150 in August, down 15.2 percent from a year ago. It was 22.8 percent below its $195 peak in November 2005. The median price paid per square foot has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 14 consecutive months.

The trend was similar for the median price paid per square foot for resale condos: August's median dropped to $151 a square foot, down 15.6 percent from a year ago and 26.9 percent lower than the peak $207 median per square foot paid in February 2006. This median has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 14 consecutive months.

Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL MSA

	# Sales			Median price
	Aug-06	Aug-07	%Chg	Aug-06	Aug-07	%Chg
Resale houses	879	644	-26.7%	$260,000	$250,000	-3.8%
Resale condos	226	217	-4.0%	$230,000	$200,000	-13.0%
New homes	679	382	-43.7%	$279,450	$290,000	3.8%
All homes	1,784	1,243	-30.3%	$261,800	$257,050	-1.8%