Sarasota, Manatee real estate stats "calm before the storm" as closed sales down in September

Despite another month of fewer closed sales compared to a year ago, the president of the Realtor's Association of Sarasota and Manatee expects the end of the year to see increased activity.

“The market has taken a very typical breather through the late summer, but we're still most likely in the calm before the storm,” said RASM President Alex Krumm, owner of NextHome Excellence. “The same factors that have made this year one of the busiest on record are still in play, and prices will almost certainly be driven higher by a very limited supply of homes.”

Closed sales in Sarasota and Manatee County were down 11% in September compared to September 2020.

Previous stories on RE Market:Sky-high demand combined with fewer homes on the market means prices will continue increase

Part of the decrease can be attributed to near-historic lows of property inventory for sale. Sarasota County has just 771 single-family properties classified as active listings in September, compared to 1,514 homes on the market last year.

Manatee County has even fewer homes for sale, at 579 single-family properties compared to 1,084 homes listed at the end of September 2020.

High demand combined with shrinking inventory has pushed median sales figures to record highs all year. Manatee County's median sales price came in at $430,000 and Sarasota County's median sales price topped $407,000 — both figures about 25% higher than a year ago.

Out of the 2,072 closed sales in September, 42.5% of the single-family residences sold went to cash buyers and 60% of condo buyers paid cash.

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More:Market has fewest number of homes ever for sale in Sarasota and Manatee counties

Potentially a good sign for buyers, new listings have since June outpaced pending sales, allowing for some increase in the number of houses on the market.

However, it could take quite a while before local real estate shifts back to a balanced market. Real estate professionals typically consider a balanced market a market where there's six months supply of active listings. The current market has less than one month of supply of residential property.

“This year, our market was driven by a tsunami of buyers who wanted to own real estate,” Krumm said. “Next year, we'll still have the buyers, but this time, there aren't enough homes to sell to them — and we won't be able to build enough homes to assuage the pressure. The forecast is very, very strong for higher prices in 2022.”