Tag: Anna Maria Island

It’s the second week of the new year and it’s probably a good time to outline how homeownership has changed, not just during the past year, but beyond. Design space has had a surprising shift and lifestyle an even bigger one, all resulting in a subtle revolution in housing.

For starters, the demand for larger homes in 2020 has built on the desire to live in more space than ever before in our country. The average home built in the early 1950s was the hard-to-believe number of about 950 square feet. By 2017, the average new home size had almost tripled to 2,700 square feet, and when the analysis of 2020 new home building is done, we will certainly see that number go up as well.

Single homeowners and single women homeowners have changed a lot since the 1950s, when the vast majority of homes were owned by married couples. Today, almost 40% of homeowners are single, and today, a single woman is about twice as likely to buy a home as a single man. Here again, 2020 could increase those numbers too.

The really big financial change from 1950 is that about 60% of homes then were owned outright and only 40% carried mortgages. Today that ratio is reversed, and with the current extremely low mortgage rates, homeowners with mortgages will probably increase even more.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown jolted our lives, locked us in our homes and drove us out of the big cities. So, what’s next? Chances are, probably more of the same. Working from home, schooling from home, cooking from home and moving to the country and suburbs to give our families space has changed our housing needs.

The ubiquitous open floor plan concept has been the dominant home design for decades, and if the pandemic hadn’t change our lives, would probably have continued for several decades more. However, the necessity of home offices, areas for schooling children and just the plain old need for privacy has changed.

Everything from city apartment dwellers using movable bookcases to provide refuge spaces to the popularity of dens and adult studies have been carved out of the open floor plan. And with the new-found experiences of learning and working virtually only exploding in the future, it’s likely that protected niches and nooks will take over soaring ceilings and bowling alley-size living space.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, home decorating for the new year also has some changes ahead, keeping the psychology of cozy is better and less is more. White, sterile-looking bathrooms are out being replaced by a softer, more natural look. Open-air showers are bringing us back to nature and out of the hustle-bustle of cities. Glitz in fabric and design schemes are out but soft fabrics that are touchable like velvet and mohair are in. Open shelving in kitchens is – thank goodness – out. Neat kitchens that people actually cook in are in, with seamless façade cabinets eliminating hardware. Smart kitchen faucets that are not only hands-free but respond to voice commands are in. Paint colors are also going through a reset, with deep green, blue and gray evoking calmness, replacing white. And finally, true farmhouse décor with barn door sliders is out, replaced with a modified version, less barn, more user-friendly.

Men don’t wear ties to mow the lawn like they did in the 50s and most women don’t own frilly aprons and prepare dinner in pearls, but much of our 50s experience is returning. Homes with yards, do-it-yourself home projects and cooking family meals is a good thing. As the new year unfolds, there will be plenty more changes to our culture and lifestyle influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re almost there; stay safe.

It’s a new year and signs are pointing to the possibility that there may also be a new real estate market. We have been enjoying a high number of sales and increasing sales prices for practically all of 2020, but we may be starting to see a slight crack in the market.

According to the National Association of Realtors, November national home sales have started to slip. Nationally, existing home sales in November fell 2.5% from October for the first time in six months. Manatee County also saw a decline in the number of closed sales in November from October of just under 7%.

As reported last week, however, Manatee County closed 40.3% more single-family homes in November 2020 compared to November 2019. Nationally, the single-family home market rose 25.8% in November 2020 compared to November 2019.

And, as far as home prices, the NAR has reported that the median existing home price rose 14.6% in November from a year earlier to $310,800. Manatee County’s median home sale price in November was $350,700, up 7.2% from a year earlier.

As usual, the biggest problem we – as well as the entire nation – have is a lack of inventory. Nationally, the NAR reported that the supply of homes on the market at the end of November was the lowest on record going back to 1982. At the end of November, Manatee County had only a 1.6 month supply of available single-family homes; nationally the number was 2.3 months’ supply, which probably accounts for the national number of sales being higher than our area.

Unfortunately, while we are still subject to the fear of contracting the virus, many homeowners don’t want to put their homes on the market, especially in the northern part of the country where they struggle with cold weather. We in Florida have a significant advantage because of warm temperatures and what is typically a good selling season, but will that improve the available inventory? We don’t know at this point.

With the hope of an influx of people flocking to our beaches and looking for a property to purchase, I did a little survey of where exactly new buyers are migrating from. The result was a surprise to me and may be to you as well.

I focused on the approximately six-week period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, based on sales recorded on the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office website. Most recorded sales show former addresses for new owners.

The city of Anna Maria had nine sales to Florida residents: Five from Tampa, one from Lakeland, one from Miami Beach, one from Eustis and one from Doral. There were two sales from Illinois, one from Oklahoma, one from Georgia, one from Tennessee and one from Arizona.

The majority of the combined cities of Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach’s new residents came from the state of Florida; eight from Tampa and eight from Sarasota. There were two from Illinois, two from Georgia, two from New York and the balance split between Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Cortez had sales to new homeowners from Tennessee, Massachusetts, Florida and New York, one for each state.

I was somewhat surprised by this little survey. I just assumed that more people were moving here from the northeastern states, but even the New York sales were not from the city of New York. I guess Florida’s east coast is accommodating these new residents.

Statistics are a funny thing; you can interpret them in a variety of different ways, but there is no way to misinterpret our level of inventory. It’s low all over and unless and until that number improves, we’re headed for a slow-down. Stay safe.