Housing market slows

Prices still up, but houses are expected to stay on the market longer
By MICHAEL POLLICK
michael.pollick@heraldtribune.com

Buyers now have more time to think before they buy a Southwest Florida home, while sellers can expect to gaze longer at a for-sale sign in their yards

The changes in market sentiment come as the Florida Association of Realtors reports a 15 percent slowdown in the number of houses sold in the Sarasota-Bradenton area during the third quarter.

Prices continued their bubbly performance, coasting along at levels 31 percent higher than a year earlier, the group said.

However, the supply of homes listed for sale has swelled to three times what it was a year ago. It's a level that one leading broker called "balanced." Others said it's a transition from the seller's market of the past two years to a market in which the buyers call the shots.

Statewide, third-quarter sales rose 7 percent from a year ago while the median price rose 31 percent to $248,600, according to Tuesday's report from the Florida Association of Realtors.

But in the Sarasota-Bradenton area, where the median price rose 31 percent to $338,200, the number of houses sold fell 15 percent from a year ago.

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