Situated just 50 miles south of the Tampa Bay region lies the lovely city of Sarasota. This southwestern Florida city is generally considered to be a tropical paradise and praised by many local and international travel and business magazines.

It surely never fails to amaze its visitors with its stylish Caribbean -style beaches, calm year-round climate, and an exciting destination for individuals who long for an active and interesting outdoor lifestyle which includes swimming, boating, golf, tennis or horseback riding. However, unlike the usual beach and vacation destination, Sarasota feels like an urban haven too, as the area's downtown developments have also flourished through the years. This lovely metropolis is also home to the Florida West Coast Symphony and the Ringling Museum of Art.

Living in this year-round vacation destination indeed, can be definitely one thing that most individuals and their families can look forward to, in which one can easily wade through a beach and not be too far from enjoying the urban comforts, like lounging on sidewalk cafes and restaurants, looking for busy at its shopping districts, and looking with awe at the impressive residential neighborhoods and its truly friendly and sociable residents.

How The Sarasota- Bradenton Housing Market Figured In The 1st Half Of 2008

For assessing the overall performance of the area's real estate market, statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors for February home sales for Florida noted that home sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market dropped 10 percent when comparing February with the same period last year. This figure of homes sold dropped from 672 to 608.

According tot he FAR data, only two Florida's housing markets improved from February of 2007, and they are the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie, which went up by 4 percent while Fort Myers-Cape Coral, a market that had the highest per-capita number of foreclosures in the country in February, went flat with just 445 home sales. Home prices also took a downturn, as they fell 25 percent in the Sarasota- Bradenton area, and around 20 percent in the Charlotte County-North Port region. Although this may sound quite drastic, it was at roughly the price range that houses have held for months. According to the FAR, the $254, 200 February median price in Sarasota-Bradenton compares with $246, 300 in January, $246, 900 in December and $267, 700 in November of 2007

Home Sales Here Fared Much Better Than Some Major Markets.

According to additional data from the state realtor's association, Sarasota-Bradenton's 608 home sales were more than all but three of Florida's 20 largest markets, and this were Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. The FAR further notes that there were only 244 homes sales in Miami, and for such a much larger housing market, that sounds amazing. According to some local real estate brokers, they have seen a lot of where properties are worth less two or three years later, however they've always been higher five years later, and it's a fact that we're going into our third year of a tough market now.

The FAR's recent data shows that homes in this region are becoming affordable again. The Sarasota MLS indicates that there are around 645 homes for sale under $150, 000, and a prospective home buyer can buy a beach front condo just under $500, 000.

http://siestakeyrealestate.com - Sarasota Real Estate