2010 Year End Review – Sarasota County Single Family Home Stats
2010 was a great year for single family home sales in Sarasota. The 5,975 homes sold was the highest volume year since 2005 when 6,392 homes sold. Nearly 7% more homes were sold in 2010 than in 2009. Furthermore, 53% more homes sold in 2010 than just 3 years ago in 2007 when fewer than 4000 homes sold. This year represents the third consecutive year of increasing sales volume since 2007.
Admittedly, the sales were not spread ratably across the county.The south part of the county (Venice and Englewood) accounted for around 53% of the total unit sales this year, roughly a 14% increase over sales in the same area during 2004 – the largest year on record. Sales in this area were had an average transaction price about 30% lower than the county average
The other good news is that inventory ended the year at around 4000 units and has been holding at this level since July 2009. The 4000 units of inventory is roughly the same level of inventory on hand in October 2005 (when prices were rising).
Sarasota Short Sale/Foreclosure Sales and Inventory
Distressed property is comprised of bank-owned homes and short sales. Bank owned homes are homes that have completed the foreclosures process and are titled in the name of the lender (or trust) that foreclosed. Short sales are homes that are still titled under the owner/borrower but the borrower is attempting ( or has in the case of a completed sale) sell the home for less than the note amount, with the lenders approval.
During 2010 total distressed single family home sales were 2989 or about half of all sales. The total was fairly evenly split between short sales (1,345 units) and bank-owned (1,644).
Inventory levels is a different story. At the end of the year, there were only 300 bank owned homes remaining in inventory with 817 short sales listed for sale. The relationship between sales and inventory levels illustrates the huge appetite the public has for distressed property sales. Consider the following statistic:
Category Inventory Prior 12 Months Sales Weeks of Supply
Non Distressd 2,876 2,986 50
Short Sales 817 1,345 31.6
Bank Owned 300 1,644 9.5
Short sales sell roughly 40% faster than non distressed homes while bank-owned homes sell 80% faster. For 2010, the median stats for a bank owned home were that it went to contract in 22 days, closed in 64, and closed for 99.2% of its asking price. Compare this to non-distressed properties which took 65 days to get a contract, 108 days to close, and sold for an average of 93% of their asking price. If that’s not enough, 1,536 non distressed single family home listings expired during 2010 without selling. For bank-owned, only 64 listings expired.