Sarasota Area Real Estate Market Update: August 2026 - Homes Sold

August 2026 closed out the summer with the healthiest sales report the region has posted in two years. According to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM), whose August figures were released September 16 and covered by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, closed sales rose year over year in every major market segment in both Sarasota and Manatee Counties, pending sales rose as well, and active inventory declined. The largest year-over-year gains came from condos and townhouses, the segment that has been correcting the longest. This is the Sarasota homes sold statistics report for the month, broken down by property type with the sources for every number.

I am Kim Donahue, REALTOR with Medway Realty, license SL3352997, serving buyers and sellers throughout Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties for more than 30 years. I publish this update every month because the data should drive your decision, not the other way around. Where a monthly figure is not published by the official sources, I say so plainly and give you the freshest verified reading instead.

Single-Family Homes: Closed Sales Summary

RASM's official August release, published September 16, confirmed that single-family closed sales rose year over year in both counties, so the full-month totals will come in above August 2025's 641 closings in Sarasota County. The weekly MLS tallies that track the county through the month support that reading: single-family closings ran 110 to 140 per week, with the three fully documented weeks (August 9 through August 29) totaling about 383 homes. Weekly median sale prices sat at $502,500, $455,000, and $510,000, a band that runs roughly flat to about 7% above the $475,000 median of August 2025. In Manatee County, the week of August 23-29 alone saw 154 single-family closings at a median near $490,000, a pace consistent with the county's strong July, when RASM recorded 694 closed sales, up 11.2% year over year.

Price per square foot is the one metric that still reads soft: Redfin's Sarasota County series put the median at $245 in August, down about 2% from a year earlier, and weekly MLS readings of $236 to $250 point the same direction. That tells me the value story has become more about sales volume and median prices holding than about per-foot appreciation. Days on market ran 80 to 88 in the weekly averages, with Redfin's three-month median near 79, so buyers are showing up, making offers, and closing in a timeframe that rewards a properly priced home.

Condos: Closed Sales Summary

The condo market produced the headline shift of the month. RASM reported that condo and townhome sales posted the largest year-over-year gains of any segment in both counties, and the Herald-Tribune's coverage of the August release highlighted the same point. This is the continuation of a trend that has been building all summer: Sarasota County condo and townhome closings rose 33.1% year over year in July, the month before, and the August report shows the segment gaining further. The median condo sale price in Sarasota County was $340,000 in July, up 13.3% year over year, against an August 2025 baseline of about $300,000. Buyers have come back to this segment after two years of correction tied to reserve requirements and insurance costs, and they are finding real value at current prices.

The local weekly reads support the official numbers. In Venice, the August market report from VeniceAgent showed 332 active condos, townhouses, and villas with 95 pending sales, a healthy pipeline for a market that a year ago was moving very slowly. Charlotte County added 37 condo and townhome closings in August, with Punta Gorda contributing 35 of them. The condo and townhome segment is no longer the soft spot in this market. It is the segment with the most momentum.

Townhouses: Closed Sales Summary

One honest note before the townhouse numbers: every source that publishes this market tracks condos and townhouses as a single segment, so a townhouse-only monthly figure does not exist for this region. RASM, the local MLS summaries, and the weekly tallies all report the combined "condo and townhome" category. Townhouses are the smaller share of that combined segment, so the condo numbers above carry the townhouse story with them.

What the combined segment shows is the strongest growth in the region: year-over-year sales gains of 33% in Sarasota County in July, and the largest segment gains of all in August, with buyers drawn by prices that sit between the condo and single-family markets. In practical terms, townhouse buyers in communities from Lakewood Ranch to Venice are competing for a limited pool: the segment has the leanest active inventory of any property type, which is exactly why its pending counts keep climbing. If you are shopping for a townhome, the window of wide selection has closed; the window of value, against single-family prices, is still open.

Charlotte County Round-Up

Charlotte County posted its cleanest, most complete dataset of the three counties in August. According to the local MLS statistics published by Time Realty, 524 residential sales closed in the month, up 4% year over year, at a median price of $315,000, up 0.6%. Median days on market ran 68, and months of supply sat at 5.8, still the most buyer-friendly balance in the region. The sales mix was about 456 single-family homes and villas plus 37 multi-family units, with Port Charlotte contributing 223 single-family closings and Punta Gorda 127. For buyers considering Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, or North Port, this remains the most affordable entry point in the region with genuine room to negotiate.

What the Data Tells Us

Three themes define the August closed sales report. First, volume is back: sales rose year over year in every segment in both Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the first time that has been true across the board in a single month in well over a year. Second, the condo and townhome correction appears to be over: this segment led the region in August gains after the longest, deepest adjustment of any property type. Third, price per square foot is the softest signal on the board, which tells buyers and sellers that value is being established at the whole-home price level rather than by per-foot comparisons.

For sellers, the message is unchanged and now better supported: price to the current data and your home will move. Single-family homes priced within the market are seeing offers inside three weeks. For buyers, the message has genuinely improved: the condo and townhome market offers the best value-to-leverage ratio it has offered in years, and single-family buyers still have negotiating room on homes that carry a premium from the 2022 to 2023 pricing era. Days on market of 80 to 88 in the weekly readings are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of buyers doing homework and sellers who price at the top of the range waiting longer for the offer that never comes.

Kim's Professional Take

I have been through several of these cycles, and the August numbers are the kind I like seeing the most. There is no euphoria here. Prices are not running away, and sales are not collapsing. What we have is a market where buyers actually showed up across the board, sellers who priced honestly got paid, and the segment that needed the longest adjustment, condos and townhomes, finally turned the corner. That is a market you can make confident decisions in, as a buyer or a seller, and it is the kind of market where my clients tend to feel good about the decision for years after closing day.

If you would like to see how these numbers apply to your specific neighborhood or situation, I am glad to walk through them with you. View my current listings, read the companion post on August new listings and pending sales, or go back to last month's homes sold report to see the trend line building.

Reach me at (941) 724-2587 or schedule a conversation. I am Kim Donahue, REALTOR with Medway Realty, license SL3352997, serving buyers and sellers across Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties.