Bradenton FL condos
Manatee singing condo blues
Conversion craze blamed for drop in median price
By MICHAEL BRAGA
michael.braga@heraldtribune.com
BRADENTON -- Prices for Manatee County condominiums posted their first year-to-year drop since May 2002.
The median price was $165,000 in September, 1.6 percent lower than the $167,600 during the same month a year ago.
Realtors were quick to say that the decline is not evidence that Southwest Florida's red hot real estate market is cooling.
Instead, they point to the condo conversion craze.
"There's been a large amount of condo conversions coming on the market at prices around $150,000," said Ruth Ann O'Ski, an agent with Global Realty Marketing in Bradenton. "The prices of these condos are so much lower than average existing home prices that they've brought down the median."
No one knows precisely how many apartment complexes are being converted to condos in Manatee County, but appraisers and real estate agents estimate that as many as 4,000 units will be converted this year.
"They're popping like popping corn," said Dale Friedley of the Manatee County Property Appraiser's Office. "It's happening a lot faster than I predicted earlier in the year. There have already been more than 2,000. Every apartment complex of any size is thinking of it."
The rest of the article is here:
http://www.sarasotaherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051012/BUSINESS/510120666
Be careful relying on averages of property values to assess the health of the real estate market. The numbers can be skewed either way to make the real estate market look healthy or sick.
Conversion craze blamed for drop in median price
By MICHAEL BRAGA
michael.braga@heraldtribune.com
BRADENTON -- Prices for Manatee County condominiums posted their first year-to-year drop since May 2002.
The median price was $165,000 in September, 1.6 percent lower than the $167,600 during the same month a year ago.
Realtors were quick to say that the decline is not evidence that Southwest Florida's red hot real estate market is cooling.
Instead, they point to the condo conversion craze.
"There's been a large amount of condo conversions coming on the market at prices around $150,000," said Ruth Ann O'Ski, an agent with Global Realty Marketing in Bradenton. "The prices of these condos are so much lower than average existing home prices that they've brought down the median."
No one knows precisely how many apartment complexes are being converted to condos in Manatee County, but appraisers and real estate agents estimate that as many as 4,000 units will be converted this year.
"They're popping like popping corn," said Dale Friedley of the Manatee County Property Appraiser's Office. "It's happening a lot faster than I predicted earlier in the year. There have already been more than 2,000. Every apartment complex of any size is thinking of it."
The rest of the article is here:
http://www.sarasotaherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051012/BUSINESS/510120666
Be careful relying on averages of property values to assess the health of the real estate market. The numbers can be skewed either way to make the real estate market look healthy or sick.
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