LONGBOAT KEY - A deal closed Wednesday for a $7.125 million mansion on this tiny island, one that marks the highest-priced single residential sale for the region in nearly a year.
The sales price represented a $3.375 million drop from the September listing price of $10.5 million, but the property at 5871 Gulf of Mexico Drive went under contract in a little more than four months.
The $7.125 million price represented a sum that is nearly 50 times the median sales price of $144,800 for homes in the Sarasota-Bradenton market during January. Foreclosures and short sales have driven that median down to late 2001 prices.
Christina Landry, a Realtor with the St. Armands Circle office of Michael Saunders & Co. brought the unidentified buyer to the table while Longboat Key's Reid Murphy was the listing agent.
The 1.2-acre estate, completed last year, includes 7,046 square feet of air-conditioned space.
The property also includes a private two-bedroom guest house with a loft, accessible from the main house by a covered walkway.
The main home has five bedrooms, a 40-foot beach-entry pool and another, upstairs pool.
Before the sale of this estate, the largest area residential sale in the past year was an $8 million beachfront home at 4067 Shell Road on Siesta Key.
That property sold in April to a client of Kim and Michael Ogilvie of Michael Saunders & Co.
