In June 2026, Sarasota County single-family homes closed at a median of $492,450, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier, with months of supply tightening from 6.3 to 4.1. In the same county, in the same month, condos and townhomes closed at a median of $343,750, down 7.5 percent, sitting on 6.3 months of supply. Same market. Same data source. Opposite directions.
If you've been watching the headline number and wondering whether Sarasota is heating up or cooling off, that's the wrong question. It's doing both at once, and the line between the two runs straight through a set of documents most buyers never think to ask for until it's too late.
One County, Two Markets, One Number That Gives It Away
Here's the detail that actually explains what's happening, and it isn't the price. Sarasota County condo and townhome sales rose 25.5 percent year over year in June, to 364 closings, at the same time the median price fell 7.5 percent. Buyers aren't avoiding condos. They're buying more of them, at a price the market has visibly reset to reflect something single-family homes don't carry.
| Single-Family | Condo / Townhome | |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price, June 2026 | $492,450 | $343,750 |
| Year-over-year price change | +8.2% | -7.5% |
| Closed sales, June 2026 | 805 (+15.2% YoY) | 364 (+25.5% YoY) |
| Active listings, June 2026 | 2,870 (-27.4% YoY) | 1,959 (-12.1% YoY) |
| Months of supply | 4.1 (down from 6.3) | 6.3 (down from 8.3) |
| Median days to contract | 47 | 71 |
Both segments are seeing more sales and less standing inventory. Both segments are moving faster than a year ago. But single-family months of supply landed at 4.1, historically tight, while condo supply sits at 6.3 even after inventory fell 12.1 percent, because the condo side needed a real price cut to clear at that pace. That's not a soft market. That's a market pricing in risk that single-family buyers don't have to think about.
One note before you compare any Sarasota number you've seen elsewhere: check whether it's a city or county figure, a closed sale or a list price, single-family or blended with condos, and what month it covers. Different sources answer different questions, and a number that skips those four details isn't comparable to one that answers them. The Sarasota-Manatee association publishes its monthly figures directly at myrasm.com if you want to check a number against the source.
Where The Split Actually Comes From
After the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside in 2021, Florida passed SB 4-D, refined by SB 154, requiring condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or taller to complete two things: a milestone structural inspection and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study, known as a SIRS. The SIRS prices out the long-term reserve funding needed for a building's structural components. The milestone inspection is triggered by age: 30 years, or 25 years if the building sits within three miles of the coast.
Almost everything on Sarasota's islands and along the bay hits that 25-year trigger. That's the bulk of the condo inventory buyers are shopping right now.
The initial SIRS deadline was pushed by a 2025 extension bill, HB 913, to December 31, 2025, for associations that existed before July 2022. Associations completing their SIRS alongside a milestone inspection got a further extension to December 31, 2026. That deadline is why this year, not some future year, is when the bill comes due across so many buildings at once. Boards that spent a decade letting owners vote to waive or underfund reserves no longer have that option, and they're catching up in a single budget cycle instead of over twenty years.
What "Cheap" Actually Costs
Special assessments to bring underfunded buildings into compliance have run anywhere from $10,000 to over $100,000 per unit in older coastal towers, depending on the scope of structural and waterproofing work a milestone inspection turns up. Some downtown buildings have seen monthly HOA fees rise 40 to 50 percent since 2022 as associations rebuild reserves the honest way, through higher dues instead of a one-time hit.
There's a financing consequence that catches buyers off guard more than the dollar figure does. A condo building without a completed SIRS is generally treated as non-warrantable by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA. That doesn't make the unit unsellable, but it shrinks the buyer pool to cash, which is exactly the kind of thing that shows up later as a soft comp and a longer time on market.
So when a condo listing looks priced well below what a similar unit sold for eighteen months ago, the question isn't whether it's a deal. It's whether the previous owner already paid for the building's future, or whether that bill is still sitting in an unfunded reserve account waiting for the next owner to inherit it.
Reading A Building Like Someone Who's Built One
A SIRS and a milestone report aren't marketing documents, and they aren't written for buyers. They're written for engineers and boards. That's where twenty-plus years spent in New York City construction changes what a walk-through actually tells you.
The SIRS covers specific structural components: roof, load-bearing structural elements, floor, foundation, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing, and windows and exterior doors, along with any other item carrying a significant deferred maintenance cost. Reading the funding schedule against the actual condition of those components, not just the HOA statement, is the difference between knowing a building's monthly cost and knowing its future.
If a milestone inspection turns up substantial structural deterioration, the association has to begin repairs within 365 days of receiving the report. That's not a board decision anyone gets to defer with a vote. Knowing what "substantial structural deterioration" typically looks like in a concrete high-rise, versus what's cosmetic, is the kind of judgment that comes from having stood on enough job sites, not from reading a disclosure packet cold.
What To Request Before You Write An Offer
Under Florida law, a buyer gets three business days to review condominium documents once received, and the standard FloridaRealtors/Florida Bar contract typically negotiates a 10 to 15 day inspection period. That window is short. Ask for these before you're inside it, not during it:
- The most recent milestone inspection report, including Phase 2 results if the building has any
- The complete Structural Integrity Reserve Study with its funding plan
- The two most recent annual budgets, side by side
- Two years of association meeting minutes, where special assessments and reserve waivers actually get recorded
- Current insurance declarations, including wind and flood coverage
- A record of special assessments over the past five to ten years, with amounts and stated purposes
One thing has gotten easier since January 1, 2026. Under HB 1021, associations with 25 or more units are now required to post governing documents, budgets, and reserve studies to a website or app. If a building that size can't produce these on request, that's information too.
Where This Actually Plays Out On The Ground
Downtown, buildings like The Mark at the corner of Fruitville and Lemon have held resale value well, in part because a well-established building with active turnover gives buyers real comparable data to work from. Along Golden Gate Point, the most sought-after addresses have kept trading in a tight price-per-square-foot band even as overall condo days on market have lengthened elsewhere in the county. In older condo-heavy communities like The Meadows in northeast Sarasota, associations sit at every stage of the compliance timeline, sometimes building to building, which means two similarly priced units can carry very different reserve exposure depending on which association manages them.
Contrast that with Gulf Gate, roughly 400 mostly 1970s ranch homes on larger lots with no HOA at all. It isn't part of this story because it was never exposed to it. That's not an argument for one over the other. It's the clearest illustration of why "condo versus single-family" in Sarasota right now isn't really a lifestyle question. It's a question about which regulatory clock a property is on.
A Few Direct Questions
Does the SIRS or milestone inspection apply to a single-family home or villa? No. These requirements apply specifically to condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories tall. Single-family homes, villas, and townhomes inside an HOA are not subject to milestone or SIRS rules.
If a special assessment was already approved before I make an offer, who pays it? This is negotiable, but many buyers structure contracts so the seller covers any assessment approved or levied before the contract date. Confirm this in writing rather than assuming it.
Where do I actually get these documents? The association's management company holds them. A buyer's agent typically requests the full package the day a contract is executed, and for buildings with 25 or more units, some of this is now required to be posted online under the 2026 transparency rule.
The Real Takeaway
A median price tells you what happened. It doesn't tell you why, and in Sarasota right now, the why matters more than usual. The single-family market is tight because it's mostly insulated from this story. The condo market is repricing because four years of deferred maintenance is landing on balance sheets in the same twelve months. Neither number is the whole picture, and neither is a reason to avoid the market. It's a reason to know which building you're actually buying into before you write the offer.
That's the read I bring to every property, condo or house: not just what it's listed for, but what it's actually built on and what that means for what you'll be paying five years from now. If you're weighing a Sarasota condo against a single-family alternative and want a straight answer on what a specific building's numbers actually say, Gerry Tomchinsky is a direct conversation away. Let's Connect.
