One of the things we do in real estate is we look at the stats from the year before and compare them to this year to see how we’re doing. When we’re looking at September of 23 and comparing it to September of 22, we really can’t use those numbers because in September of 2022, hurricane Ian came through Florida and did quite a bit of damage. Now in Sarasota and Manatee counties, we had people that had lost power for at least a couple days. Some people lost power for longer. And of course in South Sarasota County, there was a tremendous amount of flooding and people were without power for weeks sometimes more. And then when we look at further south, there was a great deal of damage there.
So we really can’t compare those numbers. If we do, it looks like September of 23 had a significant increase in sales from 2022, and of course it did because everything was halted. We couldn’t do closings because we didn’t have power. Appraisals had to be redone, inspections had to be redone. Buyers had a hard time getting to closings. Sellers had a hard time getting to closings. It just really delayed and kind of disrupted real estate in September. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to look at the stats from the previous couple months in September, and we’re going to see that we’re holding pretty steady. So our sales haven’t changed that much. We’re slightly decreased in sales and slightly decrease in pricing, but not even by that much. So the biggest decrease we saw in sales was 3%. It was just 3%. Now, Manatee County, of course, is the exception because there was a 4% increase in condo sales in Manatee County. Again, neither one of those numbers are a very big difference. So the pricing is relatively stable.
The amount of inventory coming to the market is relatively stable. The amount of inventory going pending is relatively stable. So it’d be interesting to see what we do going into this season, especially with the interest rates. The way they are now, let’s not forget Cindy, that is unique to this area, is that we are a choice market. People move here because they want to. We don’t get a lot of people that transfer here for jobs. People come because they want to. And when people come because they want to, they look at the whole environment a little differently and they look at the purchase a little differently. Inventory is still the same. We’re between about three months and four months, which is really pretty good for our area.
We are fairly well balanced. So what does that mean? That means as a seller, you might sit on the market for a little bit longer. It also means that if you price your house too high, you may not sell for a while. You may have to go through a couple of markdowns, but you also have to make sure that your house is appropriately marketed. Good pictures, good video. You have to make sure that you’re staged well, that your property is clean buyers, there’s still competition out there. Make sure pre-approved and make sure you have a proof of funds depending on which way you’re paying. And the reason for that is as sellers are getting smart as well, not many of them are willing to take their property off the market if you can’t prove you can pay for it. So what are we looking at here? We’re looking at a pretty steady stream of sales pendings and listings over the last several months as we go into season, because season is starting right about now. It’ll be really interesting to see what happens when our snowbirds really hit in January. Have a great day.