In April, the Sarasota-Manatee housing market did something that it hasn’t always managed to do lately: it got busier without getting much pricier.

Year over year, single-family homes reached a median sale price of $490,000 in Sarasota County, up 4.3 percent, and $492,500 in Manatee County, up 6.1 percent. Among townhouses and condos, Sarasota County’s median sale price slipped 0.6 percent, to $337,500, while Manatee County’s rose 6.6 percent, to $320,000.

Closed sales rose across single-family homes and condos in both counties, pending sales climbed and active inventory fell in every major segment, reversing a recent pattern of growing supply. Yet median sale prices rose in three of the four main parts of the market: single-family homes in Sarasota County, single-family homes in Manatee County, and townhouses and condos in Manatee County. The exception was Sarasota County’s townhouse and condo market, where the median price was nearly flat. That’s all according to the latest monthly data published by the Realtor Association of Sarasota-Manatee (RASM).

That combination suggests a market with more movement, but not a return to the frenzy of the pandemic years.

“Sales are rising, inventory is tightening, the price is still holding steady, but it’s still buyer friendly,” says Nikki Taylor, a local realtor with Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “But the window is kind of narrowing, I'd say.”

The largest shift came in Sarasota County’s condo and townhome market. Closed sales jumped 18.7 percent from April 2025, to 445 transactions, while new pending sales surged 35.1 percent, the sharpest increase of any segment, even as active inventory fell 13.3 percent, to 2,300 units and median sale price slipped 0.6 percent, to $337,500,

“It’s like the condo market just woke up,” Taylor says. “Maybe it fell asleep for a little while, but it’s back this month.”

Taylor adds that the condo market may be finding firmer footing after a period of uncertainty tied to Florida’s post-Surfside collapse condo safety and reserve requirements, which have added paperwork, higher fees, scrutiny and, in some cases, financial questions for buyers and sellers, sending condo prices plummeting.

“I think people were waiting to see, with the new requirements [and] all the paperwork you have to have, how things would settle in,” she says. “It’s a new norm and we’ve moved into understanding it more, and knowing what has to be done in terms of the added transparency rules.” She adds that buyers who had been waiting on the sidelines “found their footing, too, and prices were right.” 

Even with that burst of activity, Sarasota’s condo market still carried 7.7 months of supply in April, more than the single-family market, and sellers received a median 91.1 percent of their original list price. In other words, demand picked up, but buyers, in the driver’s seat, were still negotiating.

Manatee County’s condo and townhome market also strengthened. Closed sales rose 12.5 percent year over year, to 307, and new pending sales increased 14.6 percent. The median sale price climbed 6.6 percent, to $320,000, the largest price gain among the segments. Inventory fell 12.9 percent, to 1,582 active listings.

Single-family homes moved in a steadier, less dramatic way. In Sarasota County, closed sales edged up 0.9 percent, to 824, while new pending sales rose 17 percent. The median sale price increased 4.3 percent, to $490,000, year over year. Inventory fell 26.8 percent, the steepest decline in active listings among the four segments, leaving 3,258 homes on the market and 4.7 months of supply.

In Manatee County, single-family homes closed sales rose 4.8 percent, to 704, and pending sales increased 4.6 percent. The median sale price climbed 6.1 percent, to $492,500. Inventory dropped 9.9 percent, to 2,929 listings, representing 4.6 months of supply.

The two counties’ single-family median prices are now nearly identical, a notable shift for a region where Manatee has long carried a reputation as the less expensive sibling.

Taylor says that convergence has been building. “The evening out makes sense when people are looking for different types of properties," she says.

Across both counties, sellers were still giving ground. Sarasota single-family sellers received a median 94.3 percent of their original list price, while Manatee single-family sellers received 94.6 percent. Taylor says that reflects a market in which some asking prices remain ambitious, even as demand firms up.

“Buyers still have some room to negotiate in certain cases,” she says. “There has been bit of aspirational pricing that buyers are pushing at.”

Cash also remained a defining feature of the market. In Sarasota County, cash buyers accounted for 43.9 percent of single-family purchases and 70.1 percent of condo and townhome sales. In Manatee, cash represented 32.8 percent of single-family sales and 58.6 percent of condo and townhome purchases.

“That suggests buyers weighted toward retirees and [people buying] second and third homes or investors, rather than folks that are going to use financing,” Taylor says.

April’s movement also caught Taylor’s attention because Sarasota’s housing market often quiets after Easter, as seasonal residents leave and summer heat begins to set in. This year, she says, the shift feels less pronounced.

“There’s a traditional end of season,” she says. But the latest numbers suggest “there’s another wave,” with sales rising, inventory declining and prices largely holding. “We’ll see how far into summer we go, but it’s not stopping as of right now," she says.

Pending the toll increased oil prices will take on the market, for now, April’s report points to a market that has not snapped back into seller-dominated territory, but is no longer loosening in the same way it had been—and the next few months may show whether April was a seasonal flourish or the start of a tighter summer.