The housing market in Sarasota and Manatee counties for 2023 is starting to stabilize. This means that things are becoming more balanced for both buyers and sellers. One way to measure this balance is by looking at the Months’ Supply of Inventory (MSI). A balanced market has an MSI of 5.5 months, which shows how long it would take to sell all the current homes at the current sales rates.
In Sarasota, the MSI for single-family homes increased by 76% to 4.4 months, and for condos, it increased by 136.4% to 5.2 months. This is the highest it’s been since 2018. In Manatee County, the MSI for single-family homes increased by 10% to 3.3 months, and for condos, it increased by 70.4% to 4.6 months.
These numbers suggest that the housing market is changing in Sarasota and Manatee County. It’s becoming less advantageous for sellers and giving buyers more options. This means that buyers might not have to rush into decisions or offer more money than the asking price like they did in the past.
Even though home prices are still high, sellers might need to wait longer to sell their homes. And buyers might not be as willing to skip things like inspections before buying a home.
Yearly Market in 2023
In 2023, the total number of homes sold in Sarasota and Manatee counties was almost the same as the year before, with a total of 21,760 sales. When we look at the types of homes, we see some changes. The number of single-family homes sold in Sarasota County went down by 4.2% to 7,608, but in Manatee County, it went up by 7.3% to 7,480. For condos, the number of sales went down in both counties, with Sarasota seeing a 6.7% decrease to 3,830 and Manatee seeing a 0.8% decrease to 2,846.
The prices of homes also changed. The median sale price for condos in 2023 was higher than in 2022, reaching $410,000 in Sarasota and $363,620 in Manatee. For single-family homes, the median price went up by 4.5% to $515,000 in Sarasota but went down by 2.1% to $509,240 in Manatee.
The time it took for homes to be sold got a lot longer in 2023 compared to 2022. In Sarasota County, it took 27 days for single-family homes to sell (which is 200% longer than in 2022) and 28 days for condos (250% longer). In Manatee County, it took 33 days for single-family homes to sell (266.7% longer) and 36 days for condos (350% longer).
The total amount of money made from selling homes in 2023 was higher than in 2022. Single-family homes brought in $10.3 billion, which is 1.8% more than the previous year. Condo sales brought in $3.6 billion, a 4.3% increase.
The number of cash sales went down in 2023 for both single-family homes and condos in the two counties. In Sarasota County, cash sales decreased by 10.6% for single-family homes and by 8.4% for condos. In Manatee County, cash sales decreased by 4.9% for single-family homes and by 5.8% for condos.
In 2023, there were fewer new houses put up for sale in both counties for single-family homes, but there were more new condos listed for sale. The number of new listings for single-family homes went down by 1.9% to 19,117 from 2022. Meanwhile, the number of new condo listings went up by 13% from 2022, with 9,472 new condos added to the market.
