Sarasota homes inventory hits 10-year low

SARASOTA — Inventory of available homes on the market in Sarasota County fell to 3,114 in June, according to new data, the lowest level in a decade.

That figure is an 18% drop from June 2012, according to a Sarasota Association of Realtors release. The association also reports that sales for the first half of 2013 are up 13.8% over the first six months of 2012. If that trend continues, the association says 2103 “will go down as the second-highest sales year in the 90-year history of SAR, surpassed only by 2004's record figure of 11,267 closed transactions.”

Monthly sales countywide, however, dipped slightly last month, down from 1,020 sales in May to 883 in June. The May tally, says the association, was an eight-year high, and the drop hasn't dented local officials' enthusiasm for the market rebound.

“For the past two summers, we have not experienced the typical lull in sales we had been seeing for several years,” SAR President Roger Piro says in the release. “We are still seeing a strong surge in the spring, but there seems to be a second season for the buyers that typically relocate in the summer and prepare for school in the fall. These buyers tend to be more families, rather than retirees or investors.”