In the Sarasota-Manatee housing market, February offered less a single verdict than a split view of which parts of the market still have momentum, according to the latest monthly data published by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee.

In Sarasota County, single-family home sales rose 6.1 percent year over year, to 625, but the median sale price fell 5 percent, to $475,000. Sellers received 93.8 percent of their original list price, down from 94.5 percent a year earlier, and the county ended the month with 3,420 active listings—or a balanced five-month supply of inventory. 

In Manatee County, meanwhile, the single-family market moved the other way: closed sales rose 10 percent, to 550; the median sale price climbed 2.9 percent, to $489,634; sellers received 94.2 percent of original list price, down 1.5 percent year over year; and inventory stood at 3,031 homes, or a 4.8-month supply.

Lisa Otte, a local real estate agent with Douglas Elliman, described this market as a “new norm.” In the single-family market, she says, buyers are still gravitating toward zip codes with newer homes and a built-in social life. “They want to be where there’s a lot of activity,” she says. “They love the lifestyle. They want to be where their friends are concentrated in one area with the newer homes.” Master-planned communities like Lakewood Ranch come to mind.

But if the single-family side showed uneven but durable demand, Sarasota’s condo and townhouse market delivered the month’s biggest jolt. Closed sales jumped 35.9 percent year over year, to 322, the sharpest increase among February numbers. Yet the median sale price fell 3.5 percent, to $330,000; sellers received 92.1 percent of their original list price, down from 93.6 percent a year earlier; and the county still carried a relatively high 8.6-month supply of inventory, with 2,443 active listings, giving buyers an advantage.

Manatee County’s condo and townhouse market told almost the opposite story. Closed sales fell 18.7 percent year over year, to 204. The median sale price slipped 2.5 percent, to $311,995. Sellers received 93 percent of their original list price, down from 95.2 percent a year earlier, and inventory stood at 1,670 active listings, or a 7.5-month supply. Still, new pending sales rose 6.2 percent, to 292.

Otte says condo buyers have become more deliberate, studying not just the purchase price but the total cost of ownership. “They’re being extremely methodical about what they want to purchase,” she says. “They’re looking at details, like how much the condo fees are. They want to know what their carrying costs are going to be.” In her view, the higher condo inventory also reflects sellers who’ve been slow to adjust to the current reality. “Some sellers are still chasing the post-pandemic market,” she says.

The list-price figures suggest buyers have gained leverage across the board. In both counties and home types, sellers took a smaller share of their original asking price than they did a year earlier. That, Otte says, reflects a market still working off pandemic-era expectations. “[Last year, sellers were] still feeling like they were going to get their [wishlist] price,” she says. Now, she says, sellers who are serious are negotiating more realistically as they absorb the fact that “this is our new norm.”

Time is also moving differently. Everything took longer to close than it did a year earlier. Closings on Sarasota single-family homes rose from 86 days to 94 days, a 9.3 percent increase year over year. Manatee County single-family home closings increased from 95 days to 109 days, up 14.7 percent. Closing times for Sarasota condos and townhouses increased from 85 days to 109 days, a 28.2 percent jump. Meanwhile, closing time for Manatee condos and townhouses rose from 88 days to 105 days, up 19.3 percent.

Otte says that slower pace has changed the feel of negotiations. “Buyers are willing to walk away for a $10,000 difference,” she says. “It goes back to inventory. [They think], 'If we can’t reasonably come to an agreement, then I’m gonna go to the next one.'” Sellers, she says, are often just as willing to wait, especially in the condo market, where many units are buyers' second, third or even fourth properties.

Cash remained one of the most important forces in the market, especially among condos and townhomes. In Sarasota County, 47 percent of single-family sales were cash deals. In Manatee, cash accounted for 32 percent of sales. In condos and townhouses, the share was even higher: 68 percent in Sarasota and 63.7 percent in Manatee County.

One of the more revealing numbers in Sarasota’s condo market wasn’t just the jump in sales but the combination of that jump with a softer median price and high inventory. That mix suggests buyers aren’t fleeing. They’re shopping carefully. Otte says many of the condo deals happening now are below the ultra-luxury tier, with buyers adjusting expectations rather than abandoning the market. “The majority are under a million,” she says.

There were other notable shifts in February data. Sarasota single-family new listings fell 21.7 percent year over year, to 1,005, even as new pending sales rose 10 percent, to 845. Sarasota condos and townhouses also saw new listings fall, down 11.6 percent, to 555, while new pending sales climbed 25.7 percent, to 470. In Manatee County, new single-family listings rose 4.7 percent, to 1,016 and new pending sales rose 11 percent, to 714. New listings for Manatee condos and townhouses dropped 20 percent, to 383, while pending inventory rose 18.5 percent, to 398. Those are the kinds of cross-currents that make the market feel selective rather than frozen or hot.

For now, the strongest, most straightforward growth story remains Manatee County single-family homes, where sales, prices, dollar volume and pending activity all moved up year over year. Sarasota’s most eye-catching movement came in condos and townhouses, where closed sales surged 35.9 percent and dollar volume rose 52.8 percent—even as the median price fell.

Otte says she remains upbeat, particularly about the single-family market east of I-75 and the broader draw of the region. Sarasota, she says, continues to attract buyers from the Midwest, the Northeast and beyond, and many aren’t simply looking for a place to spend the winter. 

“Do people ever retire when they move to Sarasota?” she asks. "They’re just so driven.”