Sarasota & Manatee County Market Report: July 2026
A straight look at how many homes sold, what they listed for, and what they actually closed at last month — straight from the Stellar MLS Matrix.
July at a Glance
Sarasota County outpaced Manatee on volume in July, closing 1,111 homes against Manatee’s 998 — a wider gap than the two counties’ near-tie in June. Sarasota also carried the higher median sale price, at $499,000 versus Manatee’s $490,000, though Manatee sellers held closer to their asking price overall, closing at 98.2% of list on average versus 96.9% in Sarasota. Sarasota’s median list price ($515,000) also ran well above Manatee’s ($500,990), and Sarasota homes sat considerably longer on the market — a median of 107 days (CDOM) versus 92 in Manatee — pointing to a different, higher-end mix of inventory moving through Sarasota’s market last month.
County-by-County Breakdown
| Metric | Sarasota County | Manatee County |
|---|---|---|
| Homes Sold (Closed) | 1,111 | 998 |
| Median List Price | $515,000 | $500,990 |
| Median Sale Price | $499,000 | $490,000 |
| Average List Price | $556,061 | $483,688 |
| Average Sale Price | $703,916 | $570,779 |
| Average Sale-to-List Ratio | 96.9% | 98.2% |
| Days on Market | 107 (CDOM) | 92 (avg.) |
Source: Stellar MLS Matrix, July 2026 closed transactions, Sarasota and Manatee Counties (all residential property types combined).
7-Month Trend: Where Is the Market Headed?
One month on its own doesn’t say much about direction. Here’s how closed sales and median sale price have moved over the last seven months in both counties, so you can see the trend behind July’s numbers.
Closed Sales, Jan–Jul 2026
Median Sale Price, Jan–Jul 2026
All figures above reflect residential homes for a consistent read across counties. January–June figures are sourced from RASM’s monthly market reports (Florida Realtors®/Stellar MLS data) and reflect single-family homes only. June’s figures have been updated to RASM’s officially confirmed single-family numbers ($492,450 median in Sarasota, $490,000 in Manatee, released July 17), correcting the placeholder Matrix figures used in last month’s report. July’s figures are pulled directly from the Stellar MLS Matrix and reflect all residential property types combined (single-family, condo, and townhome), pending RASM’s single-family-only release for July — once confirmed, this data point will be corrected and the dashed segment will move forward accordingly.
Reading the Numbers Correctly
Why You Can’t Just Divide List Price by Sale Price
July’s numbers illustrate this well at two different levels. Divide Sarasota County’s median sale price ($499,000) by its median list price ($515,000) and you get roughly 96.9% — which happens to land right on the county’s actual reported sale-to-list ratio of 96.9%. Try the same math in Manatee, though, and it breaks down: $490,000 divided by $500,990 comes to about 97.8%, not the actual reported ratio of 98.2%. Push further and use average list and average sale price instead of the medians, and the gap widens dramatically — Sarasota’s average sale price ($703,916) divided by its average list price ($556,061) comes to roughly 127%, implying homes sold nearly 27% above asking, when in fact the county’s sellers closed slightly below list on average. None of this is a data error; it comes down to how these figures are calculated differently. The sale-to-list ratio is computed per transaction — each home’s final sale price compared to its own original list price, then averaged across every closed sale. Median and average list and sale prices, by contrast, are each calculated independently across the full pool of listings and closings that month, which can include very different properties at very different price points. The takeaway: don’t treat headline list and sale figures — median or average — as a matched pair you can divide to check the typical discount. Sometimes the math lands close by coincidence; it isn’t measuring the same thing.
What This Means If You’re Buying or Selling
For Sellers
Manatee sellers held closer to their asking price in July, converting at 98.2% of list versus 96.9% in Sarasota — a sign that well-priced Manatee listings are facing tighter competition right now. Sarasota’s longer median time on market (107 days) compared to Manatee’s 92 suggests Sarasota sellers, especially at higher price points, may need more patience or a sharper pricing strategy to convert as efficiently.
For Buyers
Manatee’s tighter sale-to-list ratio means less room to negotiate meaningfully below asking on a well-priced home there this month. Sarasota’s wider gap between average list and average sale price, along with its longer days-on-market figure, may point to somewhat more negotiating room on individual listings — though as always, that varies a great deal by neighborhood and price range rather than holding true countywide.
Additional Market Context
The Stellar MLS Matrix figures above are the most current closed-sales numbers for July. For broader context on where the market has been trending, the REALTOR® Association of Sarasota and Manatee’s (RASM) most recent published report — covering single-family homes only for June 2026, the last month with a full official release at publication time — adds useful color:
Sarasota County, Single-Family (June 2026)
805 closed sales, up 15.2% year-over-year. Median sale price rose 8.2% to $492,450, and homes averaged 47 days to go under contract (89 days to closing). Months of supply fell to 4.1, the lowest level in years, as active listings dropped 27.4% year-over-year. Sellers received a median of 94.4% of their original list price.
Manatee County, Single-Family (June 2026)
890 closed sales, up 26.2% year-over-year — the largest gain of any segment RASM tracks. Median sale price rose 11.4% to $490,000, with homes averaging 45 days to go under contract (99 days to closing). Months of supply also fell to 4.1. Sellers received a median of 95.8% of their original list price, up from 94.3% a year earlier.
Source: REALTOR® Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM), June 2026 Real Estate Market Report, compiled by Florida Realtors® from Stellar MLS data (myrasm.com/june2026), published July 17, 2026. RASM’s release noted that active inventory declined by double digits across all four major market segments for a second consecutive month, pushing single-family months of supply in both counties further below the level traditionally considered a balanced market.
Want the Neighborhood-Level Version?
County-wide numbers are a useful starting point, but they blend together very different submarkets — a Siesta Key condo and a Lakewood Ranch single-family home get averaged into the same county figure. If you’re watching a specific neighborhood or price range, I can pull a more targeted report straight from the Matrix.
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