Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Herald Tribune is reporting today that home sales in Sarasota are up 50%!!
I'm reminded of the Mark Twain quote: "There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics".
As I've stated before, I think everyone in the business is seeing more activity but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet.
Here are the "statistics" for condos in the downtown/Lido area as of October 2009 (taken from Tredgraphix):
Listings are up 3.2% since last month, down 9% since last year, and down 5.9% from 15 months ago.
Sales are down 40% since last month, up 20% since last year, and down 18.2% from 15 months ago.
Pending Sales are up 59.1% since last month, up 250% since last year, and up 118.8% from 15 months ago.
The only trend I see from these stats is that pending sales are way up. I've explained recently that a large portion of these pending sales are "short sales" which take longer to close and often never do.
I remain positive for the long term future of sales and a return of slowly escalating prices in the downtown area. I'm also encouraged by the "type" of buyer we're seeing recently. One that is looking for the Sarasota lifestyle and will actually USE the condo at least part of the year. Very few buyers are looking at the purchase option as purely an investment. That's probably a good thing.
I'm reminded of the Mark Twain quote: "There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics".
As I've stated before, I think everyone in the business is seeing more activity but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet.
Here are the "statistics" for condos in the downtown/Lido area as of October 2009 (taken from Tredgraphix):
Listings are up 3.2% since last month, down 9% since last year, and down 5.9% from 15 months ago.
Sales are down 40% since last month, up 20% since last year, and down 18.2% from 15 months ago.
Pending Sales are up 59.1% since last month, up 250% since last year, and up 118.8% from 15 months ago.
The only trend I see from these stats is that pending sales are way up. I've explained recently that a large portion of these pending sales are "short sales" which take longer to close and often never do.
I remain positive for the long term future of sales and a return of slowly escalating prices in the downtown area. I'm also encouraged by the "type" of buyer we're seeing recently. One that is looking for the Sarasota lifestyle and will actually USE the condo at least part of the year. Very few buyers are looking at the purchase option as purely an investment. That's probably a good thing.
Labels: Statistics
