Sarasota is a city west coast of Florida, and these also include many barrier islands between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico, which are called keys. These keys include Siesta Key, Lido Key, and Longboat Key, and are world-renowned for the quality of their beaches ,as well as for the wide array of real estate investment options.
The County has grown from having a population of around 150,000 in 1980 to over 365,000 residents in 2006. The area has added around 10,000 new residents a year. real estate prices accelerated six years ago and have led the nation in appreciation. Investors flooded the market and drove the property markets up,along with newcomers.
A Look At The Housing Picture In The Keys
The supply and demand conditions for the city's keys have fared well in recent years. Condominiums in Long Boat Key are seen to have fared better than those located in Siesta Key. With the exception of condominium units in the Longboat Keys, the median prices per square foot fell in other Keys.
Longboat Key condos seem to have moved away from the trend, since the median price change shows an increase. But the factor here is that in the last quarter of 2006 many of the condos sold were on the Gulf side of the road or had easy access to the beach. In the prior year, however, condos of the same size and age were sold exclusively on the Bay side of the road, which are less expensive.
Despite the gloomy forecasts made and the serious problems facing the US mortgage front, real estate conditions in Sarasota have undoubtedly improved compared to last year. More sales are taking place and the number of condos and homes for sale in Sarasota has gone down, and this positive trend is evident in the Longboat Key and Siesta Key condo markets.
Housing Conditions In Central Sarasota
Home prices in the Central Sarasota area have fallen quite unevenly, with the area between Bee Ridge Road and Fruitville Road showing the largest decline. A possible reason for this is that this so-called "East of the Trail" area was popular with investors during the heydays, and many considered the prices a year ago to be somewhat inflated, or probably investors were willing to take price cuts to unload their investments quickly this year. In general, the presence of investors lead to wider price swings.
Lakewood Ranch was also an area that saw explosive growth in recent years, registered the largest drop in this sample of real estate here. Possible overbuilding might have been a reason. Every single month since January 2005, the number of properties for sale in Lakewood Ranch has been higher than the previous month, showing an 11-fold increase in listings from 56 homes to 612 in less than two years.
For prospective property investors, it would be best to look at real estate market conditions by viewing the bigger picture. Sometimes it is best to look at the areas' real estate market as a whole, or at the entire Sarasota condo activity. At most, it would be better to narrow it down, to the Siesta Key single-family home activity, or the luxury condo market, for instance.
However, when properties are lumped together, some of the details that are often crucial to a good understanding of the market are mostly overlooked. There is always a trade-off between merely looking at details and getting a clear overview of the big trends.
Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://siestakeyrealestate.com
