Housing prices are cooling off

Sales of existing homes have also dropped from last year.

Here is an article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune about Sarasota home prices cooling off.

Here are a couple of highlights:

For the second month in a row, the Sarasota-Bradenton market posted a double-digit drop in median sales price.

A single-family home sold for $309,700 during August, down 11 percent from a median of $347,400 during the same month in 2005. That is on the heels of an 11 percent drop during July.

"The biggest mistake today is they price their home off their neighbor's home down the street," said Dan Forbes, co-owner of Bradenton's Premier Team Inc. "Their neighbor's home has been on the market for five months and it still hasn't sold.

Southwest Florida was by no means alone in either the drastic slowdown in sales or the drop in prices. Plummeting sales have been weighing on home prices in most of the country, with the median price of an existing home sold during August dropping to $225,000, 1.7 percent below August 2005.

Felix Power, president of the Sarasota Association of Realtors, notes that the current rate of sales is comparable to 2002, before the big boom of 2003-05.

Some have taken their homes off the market after "coming to the realization they're not going to make a fortune," the way a neighbor who sold 18 months ago might have.

This is not a surprise to me. Of course prices had to drop if the supply of homes and condos for sale exceeds the demand for them. The good news is that the buyers are getting more active. They know that there are plenty of options to choose from and that they are in the drivers seat.

If you are looking to buy or sell give me a call at 308-6766. I would be happy to help you.