Newsletter 45

LOCAL HOME PRICE INCREASE LEADS STATE: Home prices in the Sarasota-Manatee region shot up at a faster rate than any other major metro area in Florida in the third quarter. The median sale price of an existing single-family home hit $240,000 during the July -September period, a 22.7% increase over the year, according to new data from the Florida Realtors trade group. Prices throughout Florida posted a 9.8% year-over-year gain in the quarter, with the median sales price – half were higher, half lower – at $199,000. Buyers closed on 3,834 existing homes in the Sarasota-Manatee region during the three month period, which was 9.3% ahead of last year’s pace. Please click here for more, courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Real Estate Prices on the Rise

BUILDERS BUYING LAND, BETTING ON THE FUTURE: Builders throughout Southwest Florida remain confident that demand for real estate will continue to grow – even as uncertainly looms – caused by the eventual rise of interest rates. They’re stock-piling land to be prepared to meet the demand. Lots in desirable neighborhoods are now more expensive and harder to find, but builders are still aggressively purchasing them, often paying nearly double what similar properties fetched during the prolonged slump. Many of these developments won’t debut for 18 to 24 months, indicating the builders behind these projects remain confident in the housing market’s long-term stability. There’s more on this story here: Builders Buying More Land

OCTOBER SEES MORE VISITORS: Even without opening another new mall, Sarasota County still exceeded October 2014’s tourism numbers. Visit Sarasota County, the county’s tourism agency, reports that the community welcomed 70,750 visitors in paid lodgings during October, a 2% increase from the same month last year. Meanwhile, visitor’s direct expenditures jumped 8.1% when compared with October 2014. While these numbers aren’t the double-digit boosts Sarasota County has become accustomed to in recent months, the county had a lot to live up to from the October 2014 figures, when the Mall at University Town Center opened its doors. It brought in hundreds of retail training teams that stayed in the area for weeks at a time. Click here to read more: More Visitors in October

WATCHING THEIR LOONIES:It’s been a rough year for the Canadian economy. For every dollar the Canadian snowbirds spend during their time here, they’re really spending $1.36 in the loonie, the nickname for the Canadian dollar. Florida as a whole saw a 1.4% decrease in Canadian tourists for the first three quarters of the year, but that dip hasn’t been evident in this region. Sarasota County saw a 22.2% increase in Canadian tourists during fiscal 2015. It seems that a slightly more expensive winter won’t keep them away. There’s more here: Canadians Still Coming

SOUTH SIESTA BEACH RENOURISHMENT APPROVED: Sarasota County next month will begin a $21.5 million beach restoration project on south Siesta Key that will add some 690,000 cubic yards of sand and 1.1 acres of dune vegetation to protect one of America’s most popular shorelines from the steady threat of erosion. County commissioners unanimously approved the project, along with the creation of a special taxing district for property owners in the affected area. The tax assessment will start in 2017 and is expected to generate roughly $3.5 million by the time it ends in 2025. This is the second time in less than a decade that the county has taxed property owners and renourished the fragile shoreline stretching the roughly two miles from Point Of Rocks to just north of the former Midnight Pass. Follow the jump for more: South Siesta Beach Restoration

BP FUNDS GO TO 9 PROJECTS: Housing for the homeless, transit planning, and numerous park improvements are among the nine projects the city will fund with its settlement from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The most expensive is a half-million-dollar investment in Housing First, a concept that places chronically homeless individuals in permanent, subsidized residences. Other projects earmarked for BP settlement funds include nearly $491,000 to perform a detailed bus rapid-transit study from the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport to Sarasota Memorial Hospital and $490,000 to improvements to the Fredd Atkins, Payne, Five Points, Fruitville and Pineapple parks and the Ringling lot. The city will also dedicate a portion of the funds to climate change education and planning. Here’s more on this story: BP Settlement Allocation