Exciting news from the Longboat Observer last week about the sales activity on Longboat and the surrounding keys:
“If the improving real-estate market on Longboat Key and Sarasota’s offshore keys the last five weeks in 2009 and the first five weeks in 2010 is any indication, the future may bode well for our “living industry.”
There were 110 transactions involving $94,985,070 in those 10 weeks. Sixty-two were transacted between Nov. 30, 2009, and the end the year for more than $50.2 million, and 48 were transacted during the first five weeks of 2010 for more than $44.7 million.
The largest sale was the $8.4 million new home sale on New Pass the last week in January to boost the week’s sales to more than $20 million. This compares to the best week of $18 million posted from Nov. 30, 2009, through Dec. 4, 2009.”
I’ve participate in many of these sales, including contracting on a $5.4 million Bird Key home, two Sanctuary residences with a combined value over $3 million, and the listing a selling of a $1 million Pierre residence. Showings have been bit slower in the first two weeks of February, perhaps due to the unseasonably cool weather. Buyers who are out looking are noticing greatly reduced inventory, particularly prime locations. That coupled with the threat of rising interest rates will likely continue to drive the market.