More Red Ink in the Case-Shiller March Release
The January indices (released March 28.2011) were down or flat from December in every market. Both Florida markets followed were down 1% from December.
Compared to the January 2010 indices, all markets were down except for San Diego which was flat and Washington DC which was up 4% (see my post from last month on this topic).
Like politics, all real estate is local. There is no Case-Shiller index for Sarasota, but over the long-term (one year or more), the charts for Tampa and Miami are probably reasonable proxy for Sarasota or even the downtown condo market. However, I do think things have firmed up more downtown recently.
As posted last month, unsold inventory levels in the downtown Sarasota condo market are at 5 year lows and sales are back to near highs. The relationship between sales and inventory remains low which will put pressure on prices, but the relationship has improved dramatically over the past year. It won't be long until inventory becomes picked over with the unsold inventory becoming the units with the least desirable views in the least popular buildings. When this starts to occur, new listings with the better views in the more popular buildings will start to move quickly. We can't be far from this point.