Sarasota Home Prices

Home prices level off and volume is down, for now

By RICH SHOPES and MICHAEL POLLICK

The median price of existing homes in Sarasota-Bradenton eased off a June high of $336,800, potential evidence that the region's housing boom might have reached its zenith this summer.

But experts -- even some who have been bearish about Southwest Florida's housing market for months -- cautioned against reading too much into the June-to-July drop of $2,900.

After all, the $333,900 price could be just a blip.

The July price was still 32 percent higher than a year earlier. It is less than 1 percent below June's record price and comes during summertime, when the housing market traditionally slows.

Such monthly declines occurred in October and November 2004, right after the hurricane season took its toll and before prices rebounded sharply in December, noted Hank Fishkind, owner of Orlando-based Fishkind & Associates.

The Charlotte County-North Port market showed no similar drop: The median sales price was $236,600 in July, 9.3 percent more than the June price of $216,500. But Fishkind, considered one of the state's pre-eminent economists, does think "that the market has peaked from a volume perspective."The 1,012 home sales in Sarasota-Bradenton in July constituted a 28 percent drop compared with the same month last year, tied for the biggest drop in the state with Fort Lauderdale. It was part of a five-month trend of declining volume and ballooning prices.

Since April, the Sarasota-Bradenton market's median sales price has risen 10.6 percent.Volume in the Charlotte County-North Port market was 10 percent lower in July than the same month last year.

Statewide, there were 21,669 home sales, an 8 percent drop.

The sales decline was mirrored nationally.

The National Association of Realtors reported that July sales of existing homes -- including single-family houses, town homes and condominiums -- totaled 7.16 million at a seasonally-adjusted national rate.

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