Article
Sarasota condo market
“The cradle” of the condominiums in Florida (or better yet, in the entire USA) is considered to be, without doubt, Miami. However, it seems that nobody took into consideration the number of condos in proportion to the size of the city. The result in this case would have been Sarasota. This is the biggest condominium host in the States is Sarasota. For example, condo market developers want to build another 25,000 condos in Miami's central business district. That is one unit for every 24 of the city's 600,000 inhabitants. In comparison with that, the Sarasota condo market has one condo in plan for every 19 of its 55,000 residents. Having established this, one big question pops in everybody's minds: will the construction craze, as far as Sarasota condos go, reach the demands, so as to force prices back to a normal level? Because the truth is that real estate agents have had a hard time selling Sarasota condos priced over $1 million lately. This should be a pointer to the fact that the condo market is overbuilt. Sarasota condos priced between $400,000 and $800,000 have been selling like crazy over recent time. Still, real estate agents warn that by the time 1,000 units will be completed in 2007, the number of Sarasota condos might be stagnant for a while. Thus, the condo market will definitely slow down.
The number of condo units bought by investors is unknown. But if a large percentage of those condos find themselves thrown back on the market, naturally (according to the law of demand and supply), prices should depress. However, according to statistics made by real estate agents and analysts, Sarasota condos are in advantage in comparison to those in other parts of the country. For example, two-bedroom units at The Plaza at Five Points started selling for no less than $650,000. The appreciation at which they are resold is 17%, meaning a price of $760,000. The numbers are certain, despite the fact that certificates of occupancy haven't yet been issued. Even if business is blossoming on the Sarasota condo market in general, the upper segment of Sarasota condos remains cold. Real estate agents try hard to sell penthouse units, mainly because of the fact that prices are way over $1 million, but also because the demand is not as high as the supply is. Nevertheless, the future is bright for Sarasota condos. Real estate agents have no doubt about the near progress of the Sarasota condo market.
Apparently, Michael Saunders & Co. have listed more than 314 units evaluated at more than $1 million on the market between the end of July 2004 and the end of July 2005. Half of them have been sold. This is definitely a positive thing, because in the same period of time, one year earlier, 353 such units had been listed, and only 30.5% of them were sold. A real estate agent from Prudential Palms Reality, Linda Page, recently stated that the inventory at the high end was certainly evolving. She also invests in downtown Sarasota condos. She added that during one year, Beau Ciel had 14 sales of more than $1 million, which is a great thing for the Sarasota condo market. Sarasota condos represent great value compared with other segments in the city's real estate market. Anyway, it seems that condos priced over $1 million are far more attractive, just because of the explosion in the sales of lower priced Sarasota condos.
