Archives for August 2018

Southwest Florida — the Sarasota metro area in particular — has a reputation for its wealth of gold-plated residences. The latest Luxury Home Index from realtor.com validates that celebrity status, or, from another viewpoint, notoriety.

In the site’s May report of the top 10 fastest-growing U.S. luxury markets nationwide, the Sarasota-Manatee market stood atop the list. Collier County, near Naples, came in third in the rankings of the percentage increase of the top 5 percent of the most expensive home-sales prices.

The overall transaction total doesn’t matter. Sarasota’s entry-level luxury price rose 19.1 percent year over year, reaching $993,000,

Whether that sales price merits the luxury label is debatable. By many measures, a home’s sales price must reach at least $1 million before entering the so-called luxury market. But who’s quibbling over Sarasota falling $7,000 short?

Roger Pettingell, a luxury waterfront specialist with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, cites two price points for opulent status.

“Coldwell Banker’s starting price for what we consider a Global Luxury listing is $1.2 million,” he said this week. “More anecdotally, I consider a luxury Sarasota property to be one which is priced over $3 million.”

Let’s stick with that higher figure, since many a million-dollar home on the water ranks as a tear-down. Plus, there are a lot of $3 million homes on the market, 129 to be exact. The top dog comes with a whopping $19.5 million price tag. That’s 19,300 square feet at $3,884.57 for one square.

Of the 79 that recently sold, the highest sale reached $9 million for 9,202 square feet, and that’s with an $800,000 cut-off list. That’s also thousands more per square foot — $6,448.41.

The average and median list price of all those $3 mil-plus homes stand at more than $5 million. The median closing, though, was $3.6 million.

Luxury homes, luxury prices, indeed.

The lowest on the market and sold went for exactly $3 million each, a veritable bargain at a mere $428.41 per square foot.

Michael Saunders & Co. currently has 45 active listings in the $3 million-plus range. Last month countywide, sales of seven homes in that price category were closed, a 75 percent increase over the four in May 2017, said Samantha Emelock, a Saunders communications specialist.

Saunders recently closed on two big sales in Sarasota, at $7 million and $5.4 million.

Collier’s $1.65 million sales mark is only surpassed by three California counties, but the percentage increase for all three Silicon Valley counties did not beat Collier’s.

Prospective home buyers from northern states are propelling the two Florida markets, realtor.com reported, not residents trying to escape the super-heated West Coast.

“Luxury prices in the Sunshine State are rising quickly as buyers from places like New York, Boston and Chicago get wind that there is a better bang for their buck available down South,” Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com, said in a news release. “Meanwhile, we’re seeing signs of a luxury-market glut in many established markets, which is in some cases leading to spillover demand for their less-pricey neighbors.”

No warning signs here.

“Is there a glut of luxury properties for sale?” asked Longboat Key-based Pettingell? “If you say a luxury property is any property over $3 million, there is less than a two-year supply of properties of $3 million.

“There is certainly not a glut of those premium, market-priced properties, which tend to sell much more quickly,” Pettingell said.

From Jan. 1, 2018, to date, Coldwell Banker in Sarasota has sold or held a contract on 25 properties over $3 million and Pettingell sold seven, said Laitin Schwerin, a senior public relations specialist in a Sarasota Coldwell Banker office. During that same time span in 2017, the company sold 20 properties in that price range, and Pettingell sold six.

Apparently, if you list a luxury home, someone will come to buy.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune June 22, 2018