Home Sales, Prices Down in Bradenton Market

Is Bradenton-Sarasota now a buyer’s market? That’s the question potential Florida home loan seekers need to ask themsevles after seeing the recent numbers in the area.

Existing home sales in the region took a 40 percent tumble in June, while the median sales price fell $10,000 from a year ago.

Figures released Tuesday by the Florida Association of Realtors showed a mix bag of results in the state, however. While Bradenton-Sarasota was one of seven Florida markets to see prices falter, cities such as Gainesville and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater continued to see double digit appreciation, as their real estate values soared.

Despite the fall in prices, Bradenton-Sarasota remained the fifth most expensive place to purchase a home in Florida, with the median price settling at $326,800. Statewide, the median was $257,800. As a result, it’s difficult to determine how feasible it is for the average consumer to afford a Florida home loan in the sector, even with this recent decrease.

Reasons behind sales drop

Real estate officials say the rising cost of insurance, higher taxes, higher fuel costs and escalating Florida mortgage rates are just some of the reasons for the sales slump.

Unrest in the Middle East also has had an effect, said Dan Forbes, broker and co-owner of Premier Team Realty.

“It effects people psychologically. Markets, even the housing market, doesn’t like uncertainty,” Forbes said.

The market isn’t all doom and gloom, however. The number of homes being put on the market seems to have leveled off, leading some to think the worst may be over.

“We’re starting to see that we’re reaching the top of the inventory cycle. If it decreases throughout the rest of the year, it’ll stabilize the market,” Forbes said.

While prices are leveling off and people are listing homes at more realistic prices, Scholfield Realty’s Barbara Edwards said she is still seeing people choose to leave the area rather than deal with rising insurance and taxes.

“We’re seeing a lot of people, whole families, moving to places like Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina,” Edwards said.

This time of the year is usually busy with local buyers looking to make lateral moves, but that hasn’t been the case this year, said Tierney Foster of Re/Max Gulfstream. Most of the buyers she’s seen taking out Florida home loans have been people who are moving here for employment purposes or to be closer to family.

“We’ve had a good July but it’s not what we’re used to,” Foster said.

Nevertheless, home sales are expected to ease modestly for the remainder of the year, according to a National Association of Realtors analysis. It STILL should be the third best sales year on record.