Do you know your well-being score?
You can call it a high level of well-being, you can call it a quality of life choice or you can simply call it a great place to live. But whatever you call it, Bradenton and Anna Maria keep popping up on a variety of national surveys and studies as being one of those places that sounds too good to be true.
Knowing that Bradenton’s motto is “The Friendly City” once won me free admission to The Ringling Museum, but apparently I’m not the only one who knows how friendly our region is. In a recent Gallup Survey the Bradenton-Sarasota-North Port metropolitan area scored number 1 in the Well-Being Index Score. The other top four areas were Honolulu, Hawaii; Raleigh, N.C; Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif., and El Paso, Texas. No other area in Florida even made it to the top 10.
According to the Gallup-Healthway Well-Being Index, there are five essential elements of well-being evaluated in this index including liking what you do; having supportive relationships and love; managing economic needs, therefore, reducing stress; liking where you live; feeling safe; and having good health and energy.
In addition, the index also measured residents who exercise more frequently and are less likely to be obese, have good access to health care and nutritious and fresh foods and are interested in learning new things. Those of us who have lived in the Bradenton area for a number of years recognize many of these elements as being prevalent among our friends, family and co-workers.
And if your level of well-being isn’t high enough, let me give you the Manatee County March real estate sales statistics comparing this March to March last year compiled by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. Single-family home sales were up 20.7 percent, the median sale price was up 17.3 percent and the average sale price was up 10.6 percent, now standing at $330,698. Townhouse and condo sales were also up 18.8 percent, median sales price was up 21.2 percent and average sales price up 23.9 percent, now standing at $206,821.
Active listings for single family homes were down 0.1 percent and up slightly for townhouses and condos at 0.5 percent. As of the end of March we were looking at only a 4.6 month supply of inventory for single family homes and a 4.7 percent supply of inventory for townhouses and condos. Real estate 101 tells us that low inventory results in high prices so we can expect the average sales prices to keep climbing if inventory remains the same going forward.
Well that’s pretty much the good news well-being wise, but what makes Bradenton and Anna Maria such wonderful places to live also puts them on the radar of everyone else who is looking for that perfect place. Unfortunately, this could turn the well-being factor into the not so well-being factor, and U.S Census Bureau statistics on Anna Maria Island are getting some people’s attention.
A couple of weeks ago, this paper reported the census report for a 10-year period from 2000 to 2010. Unfortunately the Island population decreased by 21.1 percent, owner occupied residences in Anna Maria decreased by 10 percent, Bradenton Beach by 8.3 percent and Holmes Beach by 16 percent. Short term rentals increased in Anna Maria by 19 percent, Bradenton Beach by 26.8 percent and Holmes Beach by 29.2 percent. And finally, Island-wide, investor-owned, short-term rentals increased from 43 percent to 55 percent.
Bearing in mind that the above statistics are already 5 years old it would be safe to assume that percentages have gone up substantially in the past 5 years. Never-the-less don’t let any of this change your well-being index. Manatee County is still a great place to live with great people, spectacular beaches and first rate services. Just don’t spread it around.
