Categories
Home Buying Home Selling Real Estate

Manatee County Single-Family Home Market Update

The real estate market for single-family homes in Manatee County showed improved activity in October 2025. Closed sales surged by 27% compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 596 transactions. The median sale price experienced a modest increase of 0.2%, settling at $481,000, demonstrating a balance in the closed sales. Inventory also grew, with active listings rising 12% to 2,671 homes. However, cash sales as a percentage of closed sales declined from 30.2% to 27.2%, indicating a possible shift in buyer financing trends.

New listings and pending sales both saw substantial growth, suggesting heightened market engagement. New listings jumped 42% year-over-year to 816, while new pending sales climbed 43%, totaling 622. These figures reflect a dynamic and competitive housing environment, likely driven by increased buyer demand and seller confidence. Overall, the data points to a robust and expanding market as we head into season.  The infographic below from Florida Realtors contains more.

Categories
Home Buying Home Selling Real Estate

Looking Forward at 2026

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently updated their view on real estate sales in 2026. The graphic below has some interesting insights.

Last year at this time, I had expected 2025 to be materially better than 2024 for existing home sales. Of course, that didn’t happen. NAR is painting a pretty rosy picture for positive change next year, but it could be as wrong as I was last year. That said, the local market in Q4 2025 definitely feels like it is headed in a positive direction. Assuming we build on this initial momentum, NAR’s forecast could be on point.

Categories
Home Buying Real Estate

Hiring Movers

Continuing with the moving theme, Florida Realtors has put together the infographic below to provide you with tips before hiring a moving company.

Categories
Home Buying Real Estate

Moving Tips

Florida Realtors has put together the infographic below to help make your next move easier. While exciting, moves are extremely stressful. Using these tips can help with that stress.

Categories
Home Buying Mortgages Real Estate

Interest Rates & Mortgage Payments

With the buzz about potentially increasing the term of the 30-year mortgage, I think it’s important that we keep our eye on ball of the more critical factor – interest rates. Personally, 10 to 20 more years of payments to keep a monthly payment down is not as attractive as downward movement in interest rates. The infographic below from Florida Realtors shows how your monthly payment can improve with a 1% improvement in interest rates.