The Manatee Association of Realtors’ Market Dynamics report comes out at the end of every month, providing a view of movement in both the single family and condo markets for every month for the previous two years. Now that I’ve seen the latest report, I must reiterate that
Island real estate paints a far better picture than that of the overall County. The current median asking price for a home, condo and single family, on Anna Maria Island is $579,000; the median price at which residences sold on the Island during November was $467,500, way higher than the County median listed price of $261,950 and a median sales price for the same month of $171,125. Of the 483 properties currently for sale on Anna Maria, 12 of them, or roughly 2.3% of the total Island inventory sold last month, while only 1.8% of the 8072 properties for sale in the County closed for the same period. Even more interesting is the fact that the median sale price on the Island increased by 21% (Nov. 2006 vs. Nov. 2007), while the median sale price in the County overall decreased by 37%. At the current sales rate, mainland inventory of residences will take an average of 38 months to deplete, while on the Island, that figure drops to 21 months. Statistics like these can be utilized to tell a story. My story for today is that pressure has never been higher on sellers to price competitively or withdraw their listings; for realtors, the lesson is, “Don’t take a listing unless your seller is motivated.â€� These, after all, are not times to test the water.
