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

September 2026 closed out the quarter with a split across the region's two biggest counties and a luxury market that had a quarter to remember. According to the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM), whose Q3 2026 report was released October 16 and covered by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on October 20, single-family closed sales rose 5.4 percent year over year in Sarasota County while slipping 3.9 percent in Manatee County. Condos and townhouses led again, with Sarasota County closings up 34.3 percent year over year, and the quarter's headline was the surge at the very top of the market: nine single-family homes sold for $10 million or more in Sarasota County alone, against one in the same quarter last year. 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

The single-family story in September is best told county by county, because the two moved in different directions. Sarasota County closed 681 single-family homes at a median of $485,000, up 5.4 percent in volume and 7.8 percent in median price from September 2025. Manatee County closed 636 homes at the same $485,000 median, up 3.2 percent in price, but volume slipped 3.9 percent year over year after a strong summer. Combined, the two counties recorded 1,317 single-family closings, and the region's median time to contract kept improving, at 46 days, down from 61 a year earlier, which tells you the best-priced homes are still finding buyers quickly. The quarterly lens sharpens the picture: across Q3, Sarasota County's single-family median rose 3.7 percent to $485,000 while the average sale price jumped 20.2 percent to $807,627, a gap that only makes sense when you account for the luxury sales that closed in the quarter.

Price per square foot is where the reading stays modest. Team Renick's weekly MLS tallies for Sarasota County put the median sold price per square foot around $249 to $251 in mid-September, roughly flat to slightly soft against a year ago, and neither RASM nor Redfin publishes a clean monthly metro sale figure for this metric. In practical terms, value is being established at the whole-home price level in September, not through per-foot appreciation, and days on market confirm the pace: 46 median days to contract in the metro, with Venice averaging 78 days on single-family homes and North Port running longer, near 139 days on average, which is the softest corner of the absorption story this month.

Condos: Closed Sales Summary

The condo market did it again in September. Sarasota County condo and townhome closings rose 34.3 percent year over year to 309, at a median of $335,000, up 6.3 percent. Regionwide, condo and townhome sales were up 20.9 percent for the quarter against Q3 2025, with Sarasota County up 26.8 percent and Manatee County up 13.9 percent. This is now a full year of the condo and townhome segment leading the region, the direct payoff of the long reset that followed Florida's new reserve requirements and the insurance correction. Buyers came back to the segment, did the homework the reset demanded, and are now closing in volume. In Manatee County, the closest published monthly reading is August's 241 closings at a $307,000 median, up 20.5 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, and the September direction is the same.

The Venice read adds texture: the September market report from VeniceAgent shows 90 condos, townhouses, and villas sold in the last 30 days at a $320,000 median, with 75 average days on market and a 96 percent sold-to-list ratio. The Sarasota condo market report, in other words, is no longer a story about discounting. It is a story about a segment that reset, then rebuilt volume on realistic pricing. The one number that still surprises people is at the top: ten Sarasota County condo and townhome properties sold for $10 million or more in Q3, where there were none a year earlier. Luxury condominium demand, led by the new towers along the bayfront, is now a meaningful part of the segment's strength.

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 momentum in the region, with Sarasota County closings up 34.3 percent year over year in September and the segment's quarter up roughly 21 percent regionwide. Townhouse buyers in communities from Lakewood Ranch to Venice are closing on homes that fit between condo and single-family pricing, and the value gap remains the segment's draw: a townhome in Venice runs near a $320,000 median against a $479,000 single-family median, a gap that keeps the townhome segment's demand alive even as inventory thins. If you are shopping for a townhome, the wide-selection window has closed, and the value window against single-family prices is still open.

Charlotte County Round-Up

Charlotte County kept delivering the region's most complete dataset in September. According to the local MLS statistics published by Time Realty, 529 residential sales closed in the month, up 2.7 percent year over year, at a median price of $320,000, up 7 percent. Median days on market ran 69, and months of supply sat at 4.9, the most balanced supply picture in the region. Port Charlotte contributed 220 single-family and villa sales plus 19 multi-family sales, and Punta Gorda carried a healthy share of the remainder. North Port sits in Sarasota County, and its September reading from MyBrokerOne shows 192 homes sold at a $229,500 median, though with the longest average selling time in the region at about 139 days. For buyers weighing Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, or North Port, Charlotte County remains the most affordable entry point in the region with genuine room to negotiate, and its median is climbing at the fastest rate of the three counties.

The Luxury Signal and What It Changes

No section of this month's report deserves its own heading more than the top of the market. In Q3 2026, Sarasota County recorded nine single-family sales at $10 million or more, against one in Q3 2025, plus eleven sales between $5 million and $10 million, and five of the county's top single-family sales closed in September, including a newly built home that sold for $26 million. On the condo and townhome side, ten properties closed at $10 million or more, where there were none a year earlier. Cash buyers were a factor across the board, with 37.6 percent of Sarasota County sales closing in cash for the quarter.

What that luxury surge changes is the way the regional average reads. When a handful of $10 million-plus closings land in one quarter, they lift the average sale price far more than the median, which is exactly what happened: Sarasota County's single-family average jumped 20.2 percent to $807,627 while the median rose a more restrained 3.7 percent to $485,000. For most buyers and sellers, the median is the number that matters, but the luxury activity is a real signal of its own. It says outside capital still sees Sarasota as a place to own waterfront, that the new bayfront towers are attracting high-end condo buyers, and that the top of the market, which was quiet through the correction, has come back with conviction.

What the Data Tells Us

Three themes define the September closed sales report. First, the region's two big counties diverged on single-family volume, with Sarasota up 5.4 percent and Manatee down 3.9 percent, a reminder that county-level averages hide neighborhood-level differences. Second, the condo and townhome recovery has legs, with another double-digit year-over-year gain and luxury condo demand arriving at the top. Third, the market is tightening underneath the sales numbers: single-family supply in Sarasota County fell from 4.8 months at mid-year to 3.7 months by quarter-end, active inventory ran more than 16 percent below a year ago, and cash buyers are a permanent fixture at 37.6 percent of sales.

For sellers, the message is the same as last month but better supported: price to the current data and your home will move, often to contract inside seven weeks. For buyers, the honest read is that selection is not going to widen while you wait, and the segment that still offers the clearest value, condos and townhouses, is the segment absorbing the fastest. Days on market of 46 to 78 across most of the region 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 an offer that may not come.

Kim's Professional Take

I have worked this market through several full cycles, and September is the kind of month I find genuinely encouraging, because the data is doing its job. The county split is the most useful signal in the report, because it forces the conversation from "is the market up or down" to "what is happening in your price range, your county, your neighborhood." The condo recovery is real and built on homework, not speculation. And the luxury surge tells me the long-term story of this region, as a place people move their money and their lives, is intact. That combination, a healthy middle market and a confident top, is the profile of a market where careful decisions age well.

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 September 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.