Report: Sarasota is the No. 1 housing market to watch

A new study from an insurtech company named Sarasota the top housing market to watch in the country — designating it the market most "primed for success in the next few years."

Insurify’s 2023 Home Market report pointed to a 24% increase in new housing units under construction in Sarasota between June 2022 and June 2023 — a growth anticipated by developers as population continues to surge. Also, despite high home insurance costs, the mortgage-to-income ratio in Sarasota is 19.5%, below the national average of 23.3%, according to a 2023 report from the National Association of Realtors. 

Insurify, an insurance comparison shopping website, pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow and its internal database of home insurance quotes to conduct the study. 

The report shows the average home value in Sarasota is $458,659, with average insurance costs hitting $3,264. 

"Sarasota has 1,500 residential units under construction, providing new inventory for its burgeoning population," the report states. "The city has experienced a 6.9% increase in population since 2020 — the second-highest compared to other cities on the list."

Fort Myers is No. 4 in the list. The Fort Myers metro area population grew 8.1% between 2020 and 2022, but new units couldn’t keep up. Instead, new units built decreased by 14%, the report found. Still, the average cost of homeowners insurance is a bit cheaper in Fort Myers compared to Sarasota, at $2,568.

On a national scale, homebuyers aren't only full-time residents occupying the property. Investors bought 26% of all single-family home purchases nationally in June 2023, the report found, citing data from CoreLogic. 

The study predicts this practice could drive up housing costs. The median purchase price in states where companies and corporations bought at least 13% of houses in 2021 was $180,572. Now, it’s 15% higher.