The Sarasota Board of Realtors hosted a real estate conference yesterday - Insider Insights: The Sarasota Housing Market, 2008 and Beyond. A panel made up of four experts on the local real estate market answered questions from a moderator and local media. The four panel members were John Tucillo (former Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors), Jim Tadora (Sarasota County Property Appraiser), Pat Neal (president of Neal Communities), and Penny Hill (top 5 producer for Chase Mortgage nationally).

Kathy Roberts, CEO of the SAR, opened the conference with a presentation on the current real estate market including an overview of Sarasota MLS inventory levels and sales data. The numbers indicated that while the market is well off from the highs of the past several years, the perception of real estate market is much worse than the reality.

Tucillo made the point that the decline in the number of listings available for sale suggests that the market is beginning to settle down. The MLS numbers indicate a reduction in new listings and inventory.

Labels: downtown Sarasota, mls, real estate, realtors