Every time I say enough with the boring sales statistics I find that I’m not really bored with the number. So here we go again. Try and stay awake as you read this. Believe me, you’ll be happy you did.

I’m writing this column shortly after the stock market plunged over 500 points at the end of a down week with speculation that we haven’t hit bottom yet. Blame the Chinese, global warming, violence in the Middle East or your grandmother’s apple pie. The one thing you can’t blame is the real estate market. Nationally, July was a good month for both new home construction and re-sales.

U.S. home building ticked up in July to 2.1 percent from June and the highest since October of 2007. Economists are hoping the surge in construction of single-family homes is the latest sign of continued momentum in the housing market. As we know, new homes are an import ingredient in the health of the overall housing market, since many existing homeowners move up to new construction freeing up their properties to sell.

The state of Florida also is up compared to July of last year. Single family home closings are up 21.8 percent, the average sale price is up 4.2 percent, but the available inventory is down 2.2 percent. There are similar numbers for Florida condos – closed sales are up 13.9 percent, the average sale price is up 4.3 percent and the available inventory is down 2.0 percent.

And Manatee County continues to be in very positive territory except when it comes to available listings. Single- family home sales were up 13.8 percent from July of last year. The average sale price was up 13 percent from $262,220 to $296,181. The number of median days on the market was down 4.1 percent from 83 last year to 49 this year, and the average percent of list to sale price was up 1.9 percent, meaning that sales that closed in July of this year were getting 95.2 percent of list price. In addition, the number of active listings were down 8.6 percent resulting in only a 3.6 months’ supply of available inventory, down 19.4 percent from last year, Condos equally have done well with closed sales up 15.7 percent, average sale price up an impressive 26.3 percent to $212,125 and days on market down also an impressive 30.3 percent to 53.

The average percent of list price to sale price is 94.1 percent, up 1.7 percent, but active listings were up 6.6 percent. And finally the months’ supply of condos was also at a very low 3.9 months down 2.1 percent.

Florida, of course, continues to be a very popular place for retirees and vacation home buyers, but there is another big market opening up. New businesses and self-employed people are waking up to the fact that Florida has no state income tax and a business friendly environment. This puts the Florida housing market in a whole new light that can only have positive results.

If you’re sleeping, time to wake up. You’re at the end of my column. Even if you skipped some of the repetitive numbers, I hope you got the general idea that in spite of the insane stock market, real estate values keep trudging along nationally, statewide and in Manatee County. Our biggest problem is the lack of inventory, which is no small thing and could have a profound effect on future markets.