Newsletter 48

PRICE DOESN’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY: In real estate, what is luxury? The threshold of $1 million is often tossed about as a measurement of luxury real estate. But is it a true measurement, or simply convenient figure that can be plugged in to get a headcount of million-dollar properties? How about a per-square-foot cost? Several high-dollar waterfront homes have sold for more than $1,000 per square foot of air-conditioned space. But is that a bona fide measure or, as one real estate agent puts it, the “lazy man’s way” of measuring luxury? In a market with 1,310 million-dollar listings within 20 miles of downtown Sarasota, $1 million hardly could be considered “high end”. Click on the link for more on this story, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: A home listed over $1 million could be a tear-down

HOME SALES HIT NEW HEIGHTS: Home sales in Southwest Florida hit a second-straight record in 2015, again outpacing the historic boom of the mid-2000s. The frenzied pace, driven by a stronger economy and pent-up demand from current and future retirees, came in a market teeming with double-digit price hikes and a dwindling supply of homes for sale. Buyers closed on 20,691 existing homes and condos in Sarasota and Manatee counties last year, an increase of 6.7%, or 1,302 deals, over 2014, when sales topped the previous record set in 2004, according to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. There’s more on this story here: Vibrant market

A BOOMER BOOM: Move over Greatest Generation, the baby boomers are moving in! The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan area now has the highest percentage of baby boomers of any mid-sized metropolitan area in the nation, according to a report released recently. Baby boomers, ages 51 to 69, now make up more than 30% of the area’s population. “Florida receives a lot of retirees and we’re starting to see that baby boomer population flock down to Florida” said Chris Engle, president and chief data analyst of Headlight Data. Follow the jump for more: Here come the boomers

FLORIDA SETS VISITOR RECORD: The Sunshine State welcomed an estimated 79.1 million visitors during the first nine months of 2015, the most of any period in Florida’s history. The nine-month count was 5.5% more than the same period in 2014. The third quarter of the year saw an estimated 25.5 million visitors, an increase of 6.8%, according to a report released by Visit Florida, the state’s tourism promotion agency. Visit Florida estimates that 22.1 million travelers to Florida in the third quarter were from her states, an increase of 8.2%. International visitors to the state totaled 3.4 million. Preliminary figures for the nine-month period show 67.4 million domestic visitors – 8.3 million overseas visitors and 3.4 million from Canada. Click here for more: Tourism records shattered

POISED TO BUILD IN THE KEYS: Donations for Mote Marine Laboratory’s new research and education facility in the Florida Keys topped $1.5 million, setting the stage for construction to begin next month. The facility, set to open in early 2017, will be built on existing Mote property on Summerland Key. Mote said that the building will more than double the lab’s research and education space in the Keys, allowing more programs focussed on studying and restoring damaged coral reefs and on finding new ways to address global threats to reefs. There’s more on this story here: Mote Marine expansion