Has the Bradenton Real Estate Market Hit Bottom?

With Bradenton, Florida having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, many people look to the Bradenton real estate market as an indicator of whether or not the real estate market has bottomed out.According to James Cramer, writer for New York Magazine, the time to buy a home may be very, very soon!In fact, Cramer provides ten reasons in his article, On June 30, 2009, Buy an Apartment, “why everyone who now thinks there’s no end in sight to weakening home prices will look like a fool in nine months and will miss the best opportunity to buy since the 1989-1991 real-estate crash.”Cramer points to the Bradenton real estate market and the Bradenton foreclosure rate as one of his top ten reasons that he thinks the real estate market will turn around and turn around soon.However, while Cramer writes from New York City on how the Bradenton real estate market has bottomed out in the summer of 2008, the fact is, as a Bradenton real estate agent, I have still seen first-hand a decline in prices over the past 5 months. Although there does seem to be a slight leveling off, whether or not the Bradenton real estate market has hit rock bottom is a question that remains to be answered.Cramer does however present some other good points in his article and hopefully his prediction is correct.His best argument, I believe, is the decline in new-home construction thereby narrowing the gap between supply and demand.Another indicator that the gap between supply and demand may be narrowing in the Bradenton real estate market is that the number of listings added to the Mid-Florida MLS has been down over the past couple of months. Then again, this may a false indicator as many people wait until after the holidays to list their home. If MLS listings continue to decline in January then we may have a true indicator that the supply and demand gap is truly narrowing and that the Bradenton real estate market is in fact going to bounce back very soon.