TRYLA LARSON
Guest Writer
tryla@lbknews.com
I know you have heard it. We have practically all heard it. “It’s expensive to live on Longboat Key! Houses on Longboat Key cost too much!”
Hearing this got me thinking. Is Longboat Key more expensive than other waterfront vacation/retirement destinations in the country? Has the geographical shift with so many people moving to Florida really driven the Longboat Key house prices higher than everywhere else in the country? The answer is not really.
First of all, we know that the word expensive is very subjective. What might be expensive to some may not be expensive to others. Some may even say that living on the white sandy beaches of our island paradise is priceless.
In trying to best compare apples to apples, I looked around our great nation at some of the most exclusive and in-demand waterfront areas. From each area I picked waterfront, single-family homes with swimming pools that had sold in the past 12 months. Granted, there may be some less expensive homes in each area and there may be some more expensive homes in each area not on the list.
Longboat Key had 98 waterfront homes sales in the past 12 months according to Steller MLS. The lowest price per square foot was $263.00. The highest price per square foot was $2,749.00. This leaves the average being $872.00 per square foot.
Here is how Longboat Key compared to other waterfront sales around the country:
