Twelve months ago, a buyer shopping for a single-family home between $600,000 and $700,000 in Sarasota or Manatee County had about 560 active listings to choose from. At the end of August there were 400.
That is the steepest year-over-year decline of any price band this month, and it sits in the $500,000 to $800,000 stretch where all three of this month's steepest declines landed. Last month we said August would show whether July's jump in new listings would hold. It did not. New listings were flat. What stood out instead was speed: homes that sold in August went under contract in a median of 46 days, down from 61 a year ago.
All figures below come from the Florida Realtors Monthly Market Detail for the North Port, Sarasota, and Bradenton MSA, released September 16, 2026, covering single-family homes.
August 2026 at a glance
| Metric | August 2026 | August 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed sales | 1,333 | 1,291 | +3.3% |
| Median sale price | $485,000 | $474,700 | +2.2% |
| Average sale price | $667,045 | $674,528 | −1.1% |
| Median time to contract | 46 days | 61 days | −24.6% |
| Percent of original list received | 95.2% | 93.4% | +1.9% |
| Active inventory | 5,235 | 6,121 | −14.5% |
| Months supply of inventory | 3.8 | 4.9 | −22.4% |
| New listings | 1,497 | 1,499 | −0.1% |
Source: Florida Realtors, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA, single-family homes, August 2026.
New listings went flat, and homes sold faster
New listings came in at 1,497, against 1,499 last August, a change of one tenth of one percent. July's 9.6 percent jump did not carry into August, and year to date new listings are running 5.9 percent below 2025, at 14,604.
So the supply side did not follow through. Sellers listed at the same pace as a year ago, no faster.
Sales held up. Closed sales rose 3.3 percent to 1,333, and new pending sales rose 2.7 percent to 1,330. Year to date, closed sales are up 7.2 percent at 11,467, so August ran a little softer than the pace of the year so far.
Price is where a single year-over-year number can mislead. The median sale price rose 2.2 percent to $485,000. But last August the median had fallen 2.3 percent from the year before, so this gain puts the median roughly back where it was in August 2024. The year-to-date median is also $485,000, up 2.1 percent. So the median is up modestly from a year ago, and roughly flat over two years.
The average sale price went the other way, down 1.1 percent to $667,045. That fits with fewer sales above $1,000,000 this August, 149 against 161 a year ago, covered in the luxury section below.
Supply is still the constraint
Florida Realtors treats 5.5 months of supply as the balance point between a buyer's market and a seller's market. Above it favors buyers, below it favors sellers.
In August 2025 this market sat at 4.9 months. In August 2026 it sits at 3.8. Active inventory fell 14.5 percent over the year, from 6,121 homes to 5,235.
Two things are worth knowing about that decline. First, it has narrowed two months running: inventory was down 22.0 percent year over year in June, 16.4 percent in July, and 14.5 percent in August. Second, part of it is a base effect. Last August's inventory was itself up 12.6 percent on the year before, so this year is being measured against a high number. Even allowing for that, the report's own figures put August's count below August 2024's.
Pending inventory, meaning homes under contract but not yet closed, stood at 1,823, up 4.2 percent from a year ago.
What sellers should take from this
Homes are moving faster, with a caveat. Median time to contract fell from 61 days to 46, a 24.6 percent improvement, and median time to sale fell from 104 days to 93. But last August, homes were slow to go under contract: time to contract a year ago was up 22.0 percent on August 2024. The year-to-date figure, 49 days, down 10.9 percent, is the steadier read, and it is still a real improvement.
Pricing discipline still decides the outcome. The median seller received 95.2 percent of their original list price, up from 93.4 percent a year ago. That still means the typical home sold almost five percent below where it was first listed. It is a ratio of sale price to original list price, not what a seller nets after costs. In our experience, a correctly priced home draws attention quickly, and an overpriced one sits and ends up negotiating anyway.
Your price band matters more than the market average. Homes between $600,000 and $699,999 went under contract in a median of 30 days, and $900,000 to $999,999 in 27, while homes above $1,000,000 took 68. Closed sales grew fastest between $700,000 and $899,999, up 36.5 and 52.2 percent, though on smaller counts of 101 and 70 sales. The $300,000 to $399,999 band is still the busiest at 309 sales, and it was down 12.7 percent.
| Price range | Closed sales | Change | Median days to contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $200,000 | 28 | 0.0% | 33 |
| $200,000 to $299,999 | 112 | +10.9% | 52 |
| $300,000 to $399,999 | 309 | −12.7% | 43 |
| $400,000 to $499,999 | 246 | +10.3% | 47 |
| $500,000 to $599,999 | 158 | +8.2% | 51 |
| $600,000 to $699,999 | 119 | +3.5% | 30 |
| $700,000 to $799,999 | 101 | +36.5% | 42 |
| $800,000 to $899,999 | 70 | +52.2% | 57 |
| $900,000 to $999,999 | 41 | −4.7% | 27 |
| $1,000,000 and above | 149 | −7.5% | 68 |
Source: Florida Realtors, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA, single-family homes, August 2026.
What buyers should take from this
Buyer leverage in this market is still largely a function of price range. The table below shows how far active inventory moved in each band over the past year.
| Price range | Active listings | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $200,000 | 52 | +8.3% | |
| $200,000 to $299,999 | 306 | −9.5% | |
| $300,000 to $399,999 | 1,120 | −8.9% | |
| $400,000 to $499,999 | 984 | −11.1% | |
| $500,000 to $599,999 | 600 | −21.5% | |
| $600,000 to $699,999 | 400 | −28.8% | |
| $700,000 to $799,999 | 317 | −27.6% | |
| $800,000 to $899,999 | 212 | −9.0% | |
| $900,000 to $999,999 | 158 | −10.7% | |
| $1,000,000 and above | 1,086 | −11.3% |
Source: Florida Realtors, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA, single-family homes, August 2026. Highlighted rows are the three bands with the steepest year-over-year declines. The under-$200,000 band rose, so it has no bar.
The middle of the market is where selection has thinned the most. Between $500,000 and $800,000 there were 1,317 active listings at the end of August, against about 1,760 a year ago, roughly a quarter fewer.
From $200,000 to $500,000 the declines were smaller, between 8.9 and 11.1 percent, and homes priced under $500,000 make up almost half of everything for sale: 2,462 of 5,235 listings. The $300,000 to $399,999 range still carries the largest active count of any band at 1,120. Under $200,000, inventory rose 8.3 percent, though that band holds only 52 listings.
One more factor to plan around: 424 of August's closings were cash purchases, or 31.8 percent of all sales, close to the 32.4 percent of a year ago. If you are financing, expect to compete against cash on well-priced listings and structure your offer with that in mind.
Luxury is running on two different clocks
Above one million dollars, 149 homes closed in August, down 7.5 percent from 161 a year ago. Median time to contract for the tier was 68 days, up 3.0 percent, and well behind the 46 days for the market as a whole.
| Price range | Closed sales | Median days to contract | Active listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000,000 to $1,249,999 | 52 | 41 | 210 |
| $1,250,000 to $1,499,999 | 25 | 23 | 175 |
| $1,500,000 to $1,999,999 | 30 | 111 | 195 |
| $2,000,000 to $2,999,999 | 20 | 115 | 190 |
| $3,000,000 to $4,999,999 | 15 | 69 | 181 |
| $5,000,000 to $9,999,999 | 6 | 132 | 98 |
| $10,000,000 and above | 1 | 77 | 37 |
Source: Florida Realtors, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA, single-family homes, August 2026.
Inside the tier, speed varied widely by price. Homes between $1,000,000 and $1,249,999 went under contract in a median of 41 days, and $1,250,000 to $1,499,999 in 23, both faster than a year ago. Between $1,500,000 and $2,999,999 it took 111 and 115 days, both slower. All four of those bands are thin, with 52, 25, 30 and 20 sales, so one month is not a trend.
In the $3,000,000 to $4,999,999 range, closings fell from 24 to 15, while $5,000,000 to $9,999,999 held at 6. Fewer sales above $1,000,000 overall fits with the average sale price slipping 1.1 percent in a month when the median rose.
Luxury inventory fell 11.3 percent to 1,086 active listings, with the largest drops between $1,250,000 and $1,999,999, down 19.4 and 24.1 percent. Above $3,000,000, inventory barely moved: flat from $3M to $5M, down 3.9 percent from $5M to $10M, and up 5.7 percent above $10M. Relative to sales, listings are more plentiful in this tier than in any other price band: 1,086 active listings against 149 August closings is about 7 to 1, compared with about 4 to 1 for all single-family homes. That is a rough one-month ratio, since inventory is counted by list price and closings by sale price, and it is not the report's months-of-supply figure.
Distressed sales are still a sliver of the market
Foreclosure and REO sales rose from 4 last August to 12 this August, and short sales went from 5 to 4. Together that is 16 of 1,333 closings, about 1.2 percent. Traditional sales made up the other 1,317, at a median price of $490,000.
The foreclosure count tripled, but from a very small base. It is a number to watch, not a trend on one month of data.
What this means if you are making a move
Every neighborhood in Sarasota and Manatee moves differently than the metro numbers, and as the tables above show, so does every price band. If you want to know what your home is worth in today's market, or what your buying power looks like in the range you are shopping, we will walk you through it with the actual data for your address.
All data from Florida Realtors Monthly Market Detail, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton MSA, single-family homes, August 2026, released September 16, 2026. Market data reflects past activity and is not a prediction of future results. Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensed real estate brokerage in the State of Florida.
