A look at the summary of statistics just released by the Manatee Association of Realtors for the period September 2006 through September 2007 on market dynamics is an impressive revelation about a market that’s been steadily going down in price and up in inventory since 2006. This in turn shows that sellers are still facing pressure to get pricing down, at least for the short term, and that buyers, whose numbers have diminished based on the slowing number of sales, are still in the driver’s seat. Here are some of the statistics in the single family residential market for Manatee County: The median price—the middle price point at which half of all properties sell higher and lower—decreased by 18%. While that may not seem so bad for two years, inventory (supply) increased by 16%, with the result that demand decreased yielding 47% less homes sold in 2008 than in 2006. For the same period on Anna Maria Island, residential property sales showed a similar retracted position, with the average price of residences dropping 35%, from an average of $785,000 in 2006 to $516,000 in 2008. Statistics are a good way to gauge market condition and provide us with the way to provide advice to our clients. I see we are still a bit far from recovery. For this reason, I advise sellers to either withdraw from the market or price properties at enticing levels. If we can get supply down, we will bring demand up!
