Low inventory issue looms

With December left to count, leaders with the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee are confident 2015 will be a record for total sales in the two-county region.

The data backs it up: The association reports that 19,020 sales were recorded in the first eleven months of 2015. That's only 370 behind the record set in 2014, when 19,389 sales were recorded. Given that sales exceeded 1,000 every month in 2015, newly named association President Linda Formella was one of several officials who hailed 2015 as the new record.

Whatever the final tally is, the record is mostly symbolic in terms of any carryover into 2016. That's because the core challenge brokers face this year, lack of inventory, will make it hard to reach that kind of sales volume again. Agents in many other markets along the Gulf Coast are confronting similar inventory challenges.

A 5.5-month supply level of inventory typically creates an equal market between buyers and sellers. In just one example of the issue, the supply for single-family homes in Sarasota County in November, according to the association, was 3.7 months. In Manatee County it was a bit better, at 3.9 months.

Some Realtors remain positive about the market in 2016, despite the obstacles. “While I don't think we will set any records, I do think we will have a pretty good year,” Formella tells Coffee Talk. “The agents I speak with are all pretty positive.”