Siesta condo sales stronger in 2012

Homebuyers are buying up Siesta Key condominiums just in time for season.

There were 225 confirmed condo sales on the island this year through Nov. 29, according to data from the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office.

That’s a 10% increase from the same time period in 2011.

“We’ve had a killer year,” says New York real-estate executive Dan Raffe, whose firm, NS/CSE Siesta Key LLC, has closed on 19 condo sales at The Residences on Siesta Key Beach since January. Two more sales, adds Raffe, are in the closing stages.

“I think the buyers’ demographics are pretty much the same as they have been in the past,” said Dudley Carson, a Siesta Realtor.

The difference is the low price condos are selling for, Carson said. But, that won’t last much longer.
“Interest rates are low, so buying power is up.” Carson said. “As long as the demand is there the prices will continue to climb.”

There were eight confirmed distressed sales on Siesta through Nov. 29, down from the previous year’s 64 sales under duress in the same timeframe. These include sales generated by foreclosures, divorces and relocations.

Raffe is an executive vice president with New York-based NorthStar Realty Finance Corp., which took over the mortgage note at The Residences on Siesta Key Beach in late 2011. The note in the deed for the complex, a $100 million project initially built under a fractional ownership model, was worth about $40 million.

But, financing a condominium is more difficult than a single-family home, Carson said. And dealing with new Fannie Mae restrictions is costly and time consuming, he explained.

“Siesta Key is pretty much developed out,” Carson said. “So, prices are probably going to continue to climb more steadily.”

— Gulf Coast Business Review Deputy Managing Editor Mark Gordon contributed to this story.

Big buy on the Bay
Gail Wittig and Ian Addy, of Michael Saunders & Co., sold a Siesta Key home on Sarasota Bay for $4,075,000 in November.

The 13,405-square-foot home, which was on the market for 56 days, sold for the greatest price for bay properties on the island this year, according to a news release from Michael Saunders.

The property’s previous sale price was $1,675,000 in 2008, according to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s website.