Sarasota Area Home Prices Climb 6.9 Percent
Home prices in the Sarasota-Manatee region climbed 6.9 percent in January compared with last year, the most in six months. The increase topped the Florida and U.S. gains, data provider CoreLogic reported Tuesday. Single-family homes’ prices rose even more —
8.6 percent — in Charlotte County in January.
Florida posted a 6.5 percent annual jump in home prices in the first month of the new year, the 14th-highest rate in the nation. The U.S. rate was 5.7 percent in January, the 35th consecutive month of annual growth. “We continue to see a strong and progressive uptick in
home prices as we enter 2015,” said Anand Nallathambi, president/ CEO of CoreLogic. “We project home prices will continue to rise throughout the year and into 2016. “A dearth of supply in many parts of the country is a big factor driving up prices,” he said.
Area’s home prices up 6.9% “Many Homeowners have taken advantage of low rates to refinance their homes, and until we see sustained increases in income levels and employment, they could be hunkered down so supplies may remain tight.”
INVENTORY: January rise from 2014 is the most in six months Inventory levels in Sarasota- Manatee hit a six month high in January, according to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. Nearly 7,500 properties were up for sale in the region. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices grew by 6.9 percent in Sarasota- Manatee and by 8.9 percent in Charlotte. Distressed sales include short sales and transactions by lenders. Sale prices increased by 1.5 percent from December 2014 to January 2015 in both Sarasota-Manatee and Charlotte Counties. “Demand has picked up as low mortgage rates and the cut in the FHA annual insurance premium reduce monthly payments for prospective home buyers,” Nallathambi said.
Despite the gains, home prices in Florida remain 32.6 percent off their pre-recession peak, the second largest gap in the country behind Nevada’s 35.3 percent.
States with the highest over-the-year home appreciation were: - Colorado at 9.1 percent - Michigan 9.0 percent - Texas and Wyoming at 8.3 percent - Nevada 7.6 percent. Home Prices fell in January in two states: Connecticut, down 1.9 percent; and Maryland, down 0.3 percent.
View the Housing Price Index by State Sarasota Herald Tribune 3/2015
