Sales of single-family homes in Charlotte County strengthened in February, and a county commissioner predicted the county’s real estate market “should be in better shape” starting in August through October. 

Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch, commenting during a recent budget workshop, explained that the time frame leading up to the presidential election is traditionally when interest rates drop and conditions improve for real estate transactions. 

There were 391 closed sales of single-family homes in February versus 115 in January, according to data from Realtors of Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port-DeSoto Inc. Of those February sales, 41.7% of buyers paid in cash. The previous month there were 115 cash buyers, which represented 39% of sales. 

The median sale price jumped from $363,990 in January to $389,945 in February, a 5.4% increase. Meanwhile, the average sale price of $478,228 represented a 5.1% increase from a year ago. 

In February, there were 7.5 months of inventory compared to 7.3 months in January. There was a 3.5-month inventory level in February 2023. 

More inventory is affecting the time it takes to sell homes. The median time to contract was 60 days, a 150% year-over-year increase. 

New pending sales were up 15.5% and new listings were 19.7% higher than the previous year. 

Single-family homes exhibited price strength, but townhome and condos’ median and average prices fell from January’s prices. Inventory was at a high of 10.3 months versus 9.8 months in January and 3.4 months in February 2023.