Aug. 17–The sale of the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota this year put the city in first place in the state for the second quarter for one key indicator in hotel acquisitions. The $171 million purchase price amounts to $643,000 per "key," finance-speak for a hotel room.
The buyer, a Dallas real estate investment trust called Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc., also acquired the 26,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton beach club on Lido Key and its private 18-hole golf course on University Parkway east of Interstate 75.
The Florida Hotels Q2 2018 Market Report from Colliers International, released Thursday, shows that hotel sales in the state averaged a shade under $140,000 per key, slightly less than the national average.
The largest second-quarter sale in the state — the $171 million purchase of the Hilton Fort Lauderdale & Marina — barely beat the Sarasota transaction. That deal's per-room figure, however, was only $295,000 — less than half the Ritz sale.
The sale of Sarasota's AAA Four Diamond 266-room bayfront Ritz-Carlton and related property scored another notable mark — the priciest real estate deal for the region's hospitality industry.
The Colliers report includes transactions dating to 2008. That year and the following one, Sarasota got skunked — not a single hotel sale. In ensuing years, transactions numbered five or fewer through 2015. The next year proved to be the exception: 11 sales brought in $146 million.
Year to date in 2018, Sarasota has logged the highest hotel sales volume since before 2008, with some $232 million changing hands in four hotel transactions.
Sarasota tops in luxury housing, again
The high-end residential real estate market continues to soar with double-digit growth in 19 of the largest markets in the nation, according to the July Luxury Home Index by realtor.com.
The index analyzes the entry-level luxury price tier, defined as the top 5 percent of all residential sales, in 91 U.S. counties.
Guess which market leads the luxury pack — again — in percentage increase in price? Not a tough question, given recent history.
Considering prices in only the top 5 percent of the largest sales, Sarasota County passed the $1 million mark in the entry-level price. That put the year-over-year increase at 21.2 percent, tops in the nation, according to the report. Sarasota also topped the May and June lists, with price increases of 19.1 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively.
Queens, New York; Maui, Hawaii; Santa Clara, California; and Boulder, Colorado; rounded out the July 2018 top five, each seeing yearly growth of 13 percent to 16 percent.
Luxury homes are moving rapidly, too, with the inventory at 108 days — 11 days faster than in July 2017, realtor.com reported. Half of all luxury homes in Sarasota sold within 157 days, 21 percent faster than in July 2017.
"The strong economy is bolstering demand for luxury homes," Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com, said in an online post. "They are selling fast, and demand for these homes has pushed the entry-level price point to more than $1 million in half of the markets studied.
"Although there are some pockets of weaker performance, we've seen double-digit price growth in 19 markets for the first time in four years," she said.
Chris Wille is the Herald-Tribune's real estate editor. He can be reached at [email protected] and 941-361-4805.
