Greetings from the Quay’s central park located in the Quay waterfront district. The Sarasota Quay is a 14-acre development in the heart of downtown on Sarasota Bay. This district is going to have upscale shopping, gourmet dining, multiple luxury residences, along with hotel and office space.
Right behind me is the now completed 73-unit Ritz-Carlton managed residences. Just east of that is the Bayso also developed by Kolter, where they just broke ground this week and will add 149 units. The next project to break ground is a Lennar project on the east side of the property, and that’s going to be about 240 multi-family units in a 12-story building.
Sarasota Real Estate: Your Up-to-the-Minute Update
Sarasota’s real estate market is as active as ever and I encourage everyone to be extremely well prepared as they enter this real estate market — whether as a buyer or a seller.
What’s contributing to the continued demand and market frenzy?
- Interest rates are still very, very low; they’re hovering just above 3%.
- The stock market continues to perform extremely well. Year-to-date in 2021 the market has been up about 12%. It was up 17% in 2020 (about 29% in the last 16+ months). I want to contrast that to a property that sold recently on Boyce Street in the West of Trail neighborhood. From 2017 when it was newly built to when it resold in 2021, the appreciation was about 17%. There’s a lot of money working in the stock market. Sarasota buyers are able to take large gains, and no matter what the appreciation has been here in Sarasota, their stock market profits are well beyond that, allowing them to buy Sarasota real estate with their large profits and still have profit leftover.
- The other big driver here in Sarasota is that there is NO state income tax, NOR any state-assessed taxes on estates or inheritance.
With all this market demand properties are going very, very quickly — yet every day dozens and dozens of properties are coming onto the market.
I want to give you a few words of caution to be a savvy buyer in this market:
- It is more critical than ever to have the best representation, to know what you’re looking for, and be prepared and ready to act. The precise property that you are focused on getting doesn’t come on the market very often. You really need to act when it does because it might be a long time before it or something similar comes on the market again. And be aware that right now it’s going to be a little bit more competitive.
- Look out for properties that don’t feel right in terms of value. Here’s an example: there’s a property on Brywill Circle near the Ringling Museum that was last on the market for $1,985,000 in January of 2021. Three months later, after it had not sold for several months, it’s back on the market for $3.2M. That’s not a good value.
- Be careful of flippers. There are a lot of people that are adding paint to a house and then escalating those prices from the end of 2020 to now by 30-40%. Also not a good value.
The market is active, but it’s not super crazy. The longest property on the market right now has been on the market for over 1800 days- that’s nearly five years! It’s at the Beach Residences managed by the Ritz-Carlton on Lido Beach. Yes, most things are selling in days, weeks, or in a couple of months, but not everything is. There is plenty of opportunity here on the ground in Sarasota. And when you’re ready to act — be it as a seller or buyer — we’ll be with you every step of the way. I encourage you to call me @ 941 587 0740 with any questions.
