Thank you, Sarasota Magazine, for inviting Lisa Rooks Morris to share her expertise on luxury real estate trends and the affluence influx that has influenced the Sarasota market in recent years. This insightful piece offers incredible data on the increasingly wealthy population of Sarasota and the impacts to our economic and cultural landscape. While we have a history of attracting affluent residents, the number of high-net-worth residents and the magnitude of their wealth has grown astronomically over the last decade, with particular gains in the most recent three years.
Among the impacts of rising affluence are a larger tax and philanthropic base that has supported civic improvements including parks and green space, public art, and performance venues. These things add appeal to the increasingly premium array of residential real estate inventory, as the community that surrounds luxury and ultra luxury homes affords its own upscale amenities.
Referencing her record-setting sale at Epoch, Lisa explains that despite recent months of slow sales, the sustained increase in prices reflects the shift in the population and the reciprocal shift in the nature of new construction projects that cater to wealthy home seekers.
“Ten years ago, a $10 million home in Sarasota was almost unheard of,” says Morris. “Now it doesn’t surprise me as much. A few years ago, I sold a resale condo at Epoch [in downtown Sarasota] for $11 million. That just didn’t happen here before. You’ve got to be really wealthy to think $20 million is cheap, but that’s how wealthy buyers shopping for a home are thinking.”