Hurricane Ian and the Impact on the Sarasota Real Estate Market

A few weeks ago we had one of the largest storms on record come through southwest Florida, Hurricane Ian. Some areas of the southwest coast were hardly affected, while others are completely devastated.
I know many of you are curious about what impact Hurricane Ian will have on the real estate market here in Sarasota. I think the aftermath of hurricane Ian is going to slow the real estate market in the short term, but certainly not in the long term. Humans seem to be blessed and cursed with short-term memory. While locals are currently experiencing a very emotional experience from the storm, people relocating may not be. They will watch the news, check out a few youtube videos, and surely feel emotional. But then when they come back down to visit Sarasota and it looks the same way they’ve seen and experienced it for years, they’ll essentially forget about it.

But what about North Port, Myakka, and Punta Gorda? Those areas of Sarasota County experienced a lot of flooding damage, so won’t that affect Sarasota’s market? Overall, I don’t think it will. See, Downtown Sarasota, Saint Armands, Siesta Key, Lido Key, and Longboat Key. These areas were hardly affected by the storm and were all open for business a few days post-storm. These are the areas of Sarasota that are the driving force behind our market. I always tell people the closer you are to these areas, the more expensive real estate is going to be. So, since these areas had very little damage, our overall Sarasota market is not going to be impacted as drastically.

People Moving out of Sarasota from Hurricane Ian

Do I think this is going to make people want to sell their homes and move out of Sarasota? I don’t. People who move to Florida typically understand that dealing with hurricanes is part of the gig. In fact, even in my neighborhood we have quite a few people that are new to the area. And while preparing for the hurricane may have caused them a bit of stress, overall their homes are fine, and their lives have returned to normal. Could there be a few people that decide to move because of it? Sure! But it certainly is not going to be a driving force for an increased amount of listings.

Sarasota Market Statistics October 5 - October 11

139 new listings
109 pending properties
164 sold properties
20 properties withdrawn from the market. (This could be due to storm damage, or that the Sellers decided not to sell anymore.)

Overall, we are seeing a lot of real estate activity within a very short time post, Hurricane Ian. So, what could affect our real estate market going forward if this storm isn’t? It’s going to be the state of the US economy. How we deal with this high inflation we are currently going through. And what impact high interest rates are going to play on buyers looking to purchase homes. The unique thing about Sarasota is over 50% of our transactions have been cash transactions. So are interest rates going to play that big of an impact here locally? I guess time will tell.

I am currently putting together the latest market numbers for quarter 3 for our real estate market. What’s going on with inventory? Is pricing beginning to regress? Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss that video coming out soon!

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