July 2026 Sarasota & Manatee County Real Estate Market Update: Sales Rise as Inventory Tightens

If you’ve been following the Sarasota and Manatee County real estate market, the July 2026 numbers are worth paying attention to.

For much of the past couple of years, the story around Southwest Florida real estate has been growing inventory, longer selling times and buyers having more choices.

July’s numbers show that the market may be shifting again.

I’m not saying we’re suddenly back to the crazy seller’s market we experienced a few years ago. We’re not.

But buyers are buying, inventory has come down considerably from last summer, and properly priced homes are getting more attention.

According to the July 2026 market data from the REALTOR® Association of Sarasota and Manatee, closed sales increased across all four major residential market segments while active inventory declined across every county and property type.

That’s the part of this report that really caught my attention.

Let’s break down what is happening and, more importantly, what these numbers could mean if you’re considering buying or selling in Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton or the surrounding areas.

The Big Picture: More Homes Are Selling in the Sarasota and Manatee County Real Estate Market

First, buyers haven’t disappeared.

Compared with July 2025, closed sales increased in all four major categories:

The condo numbers are especially interesting, but we’ll get to those in a minute.

For single-family homes across the combined Sarasota-Manatee market, 1,438 properties closed in July, up 6.8% from 1,347 a year ago. The median sale price was $495,000, up 3.1%.

So we’re seeing more transactions while inventory is simultaneously moving lower.

That’s an important combination.

Manatee County: More Single-Family Homes Are Selling

Manatee County had a strong July for single-family homes.

There were 694 closed sales, up 11.2% from 624 in July 2025.

The median sale price increased 1% from $489,900 to $495,000.

Homes also moved faster. Median time to contract decreased from 58 days to 50 days, while active inventory fell 7.9% to 2,724 homes.

Months of supply decreased from 4.8 months to 4.1 months.

What does that tell us?

This may be one of the most useful statistics in the entire report.

Sales increased by double digits, but median prices increased only 1%.

To me, that suggests we’re seeing buyers and sellers become more aligned on what homes are actually worth.

We’re not seeing prices suddenly explode. Instead, transactions are getting done.

Another positive sign for sellers is the percentage of original asking price received. Manatee single-family sellers received a median 95.2% of their original list price, compared with 93.7% last July.

That doesn’t mean sellers can price wherever they want.

If anything, I think it reinforces the importance of pricing correctly from the beginning.

Sarasota County: Inventory Fell Significantly

Sarasota County’s single-family numbers tell a slightly different story.

Closed sales increased 2.9% to 744 homes, while the median sale price increased 5% to $493,500.

But inventory is where Sarasota really stands out.

Active single-family listings declined 23.4%, from 3,574 homes last July to 2,736 this July.

Months of supply dropped even more, from 5.6 months to 3.9 months.

Homes also went under contract faster, with median time to contract falling from 63 days to 52 days. Sellers received a median 94.2% of their original asking price, compared with 91% a year earlier.

Those are meaningful changes.

A year ago, Sarasota single-family buyers had substantially more inventory available to choose from. That advantage hasn’t disappeared, but the numbers show that it has narrowed.

Look at Sarasota and Manatee Together

Sometimes county-by-county statistics make it harder to see the overall trend.

When Sarasota and Manatee are combined, the picture becomes pretty clear.

For single-family homes:

Closed sales: +6.8%
Median price: +3.1%
New pending sales: +2.4%
Active inventory: -16.4%
Months supply: 5.2 → 4.0 months
Median time to contract: 60 → 50 days

In other words, more homes sold, homes went under contract faster, prices increased moderately and there were fewer homes available than a year earlier.

That’s probably the simplest way to describe July.

GRAPH IDEA: Sarasota-Manatee Single-Family Market

July 2025 → July 2026

Closed Sales: 1,347 → 1,438 ↑

Median Price: $480,000 → $495,000 ↑

Active Listings: 6,533 → 5,460 ↓

Months Supply: 5.2 → 4.0 ↓

Median Time to Contract: 60 → 50 days ↓

This is the graphic I’d place near the middle of the article because it tells the overall story very quickly.

The Condo Market Is Much More Complicated

This is where I wouldn’t rely on a headline saying, “The market is getting stronger.”

Condos and townhomes are behaving differently.

Sarasota County Condos & Townhomes

Sarasota recorded 318 closed condo/townhome sales, up a huge 33.1% from last July.

The median sale price increased 13.3% to $340,000, and inventory decreased 10.9%.

Months of supply fell from 7.5 to 5.6 months.

Sounds incredibly strong, right?

There’s another number you need to see.

Median time to contract actually increased from 72 days to 92 days.

So sales increased dramatically while buyers were taking longer to make decisions.

That’s a perfect example of why I don’t like looking at one statistic and declaring that the market is “hot” or “cold.”

Manatee County Condos & Townhomes

Manatee condo and townhome sales increased 18.4% to 238 transactions.

The median price actually declined slightly, down 1.9% to $313,950.

Active inventory declined 15.8%, and months of supply dropped from 7.0 to 5.4 months.

Median time to contract remained unchanged at 70 days.

Again, very different from single-family homes.

Are Sarasota and Manatee Becoming Seller’s Markets Again?

I wouldn’t go that far.

I think a better description is that conditions are becoming more competitive than they were a year ago, especially for well-positioned single-family homes.

The RASM report reaches a similar conclusion: tighter inventory and stronger sales are providing sellers somewhat more leverage, but conditions aren’t uniform across every property type.

And that’s an important distinction.

There isn’t one “Sarasota real estate market.”

There’s a $500,000 single-family market. There’s a luxury waterfront market. There’s a condo market. There’s Lakewood Ranch new construction. There are resale communities.

Even within Lakewood Ranch, two neighborhoods five minutes apart can have very different competition.

That’s why county statistics are useful for identifying trends, but they shouldn’t be used by themselves to price an individual home or decide what to offer.

Luxury Sales Are Affecting Some of the Numbers

Here’s another interesting piece of the report.

Higher-priced homes had a particularly strong month.

In Sarasota County, sales of single-family homes priced at $1 million or more increased 39.1% to 121 transactions. Several higher price ranges experienced even larger percentage increases.

Manatee County also saw strength at the upper end, with $1 million-plus single-family sales increasing 14.9% to 77 transactions.

This is also why I generally pay more attention to median price than average price when explaining the market to buyers and sellers.

A handful of very expensive transactions can pull an average upward.

For example, Sarasota’s average single-family sale price increased 11.6%, compared with a 5% increase in the median.

The median gives us a better idea of what’s happening around the middle of the market.

Is Southwest Florida Seeing a Wave of Foreclosures?

This is another question I hear from people watching Florida real estate.

Based on this July report, distressed properties remain a very small piece of the overall single-family market.

Across the combined Sarasota-Manatee market, there were 1,438 single-family sales.

Of those, 1,419 were traditional sales, compared with only 14 foreclosure/REO transactions and five short sales.

So while you may see headlines about foreclosure percentages increasing from very low levels, the actual number of distressed transactions remains small relative to the overall market.

That’s important context.

What Does This Mean If You’re Selling?

The July numbers are more encouraging for sellers than what we were seeing a year ago.

There are fewer competing listings, single-family homes are going under contract faster, and sellers are receiving a greater percentage of their original asking price.

But I wouldn’t take that as permission to overprice.

Buyers still have access to enormous amounts of information. They can compare listings instantly, see price reductions and evaluate how long homes have been sitting on the market.

The first few weeks on the market still matter.

Price the home correctly, present it well and make it easy to show.

The market appears to be rewarding sellers who do those things.

What Does This Mean If You’re Buying in the Sarasota and Manatee County Real Estate Market?

I also wouldn’t tell buyers they’ve missed their opportunity.

This isn’t 2021.

Depending on the neighborhood, property and price range, there may still be opportunities to negotiate price, closing costs, repairs or other terms.

And condos in particular require careful evaluation because those numbers remain much more nuanced.

The important thing is understanding the competition for the specific property you’re considering, rather than making a decision based on a headline about Florida real estate.

My Take on the July 2026 Market

The biggest takeaway from July isn’t that prices went up.

It’s that more transactions are happening while inventory is coming down.

That tells me buyers are still willing to buy when they find the right property at a price they believe makes sense.

And sellers appear to be adjusting to today’s market.

That’s healthy.

We’re not back to the frenzy where virtually anything could sell immediately. Buyers remain selective, and some properties still sit.

But compared with July 2025, the Sarasota-Manatee market looks tighter and somewhat more competitive.

If inventory continues declining while sales and pending activity remain healthy, that’s the trend I’ll be watching closely over the next several months.