Perry was featured in the December 23rd edition of the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

By Michael Braga

Condominiums, like homes, are selling at a healthy pace in Southwest Florida, but the median sales price continues to give ground — the result of more realistic sellers and a greater mix of units at the low end of the market and distressed properties.

Sales during November rose 7 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton and 19 percent in Charlotte County-North Port.

Meanwhile prices fell 16 percent to $110,000 in Sarasota-Bradenton from a year ago and 7.6 percent from just the previous month.

Charlotte County-North Port’s median of $65,000 was a 13 percent drop from a year ago and a 7 percent decline from October.

“The price decline has everything to do with mix,” said Scott Norris, a condo specialist with Coldwell Banker. “There were probably more distressed sales in November or sales in places where prices are low.”

Inventory is so low now that prices should not be falling that much, Norris said.

“In all of downtown Sarasota and Lido Key, there are only 260 units for sale,” Norris said.

“That’s 40 percent fewer than were on the market in December 2005, a lower level than before all the new construction. Once you chop it all up into different price ranges, there really isn’t much to pick from.”

Norris sold six condos in the last two months and five went to seasonal buyers looking for units in the $150,000 range. The other sold for $400,000.

Two of his sales were 2,300-square-foot, lakefront units at Wildewood Springs in Bradenton that went for $125,000 and $145,000.

“At the top, they would have been pushing $400,000,” he said.

Perry Corneau, a condo specialist with Signature Sotheby’s, said most of his sales have been to investors who have been paying cash. “They’re looking at cash flows and don’t care what they look like,” Corneau said.

Some of those investors have been able to get some tremendous deals.

“There’s a one-bedroom Unit in the Village at Town Park in Lakewood Ranch that’s listed at $45,000,” Corneau said. “The maintenance fees are $256. You can rent that and make a profit.”

But unlike in the lower end of the single-family home market, Corneau said, buyers do not feel a sense of urgency yet.

“There’s a lot of people in a holding pattern,” he said. “A lot of boomers don’t have the income.”

Norris, who writes a comprehensive blog about the regional condo market on his website, pointed out that 30 condos sold in downtown Sarasota and Lido Key — the 34236 ZIP code — in November. That is three more than the previous November.

He also noted that sales of properties below $300k and above $1 million are both up double digits in the past 12 months compared with the prior 12-month period. But the opposite is true for everything in between.

“December is historically a weak month for real estate sales,” Norris wrote in his blog.

“But even so, there are 40 percent fewer Sarasota condominium residences on the market now than in December 2005.

“As inventory falls, the likelihood of finding that perfect home falls,” he wrote.

“In a more typical market, this might push prices higher. However, ours is a market of second-home buyers (especially condominiums) and second-home purchases are 100 percent discretionary.

“If the perfect home isn’t available at a great price, there may be no urgency to buy.”

Statewide, 5,590 condominiums changed hands during November, up 2 percent from a year ago but at a nearly 9 percent slower place than in October.

The statewide median sales price of $86,700 was a 4 percent increase from a year ago but down about 1.3 percent from October.

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