New Year’s Eve may have been almost two months ago, but we’re just now getting statistics and trends from 2013. And one group of statistics that the real estate community awaits each year is the fourth quarter and year- end comparisons. Mid-February the national and local year-end sales statistics were published. Nationally, the news was a little bit of a mixed bag, but locally, we’re doing great, so for all of you numbers people here we go.

The National Association of Realtors announced that overall the median price of an existing home rose 10.1 percent in the fourth quarter to $196,900 from a year earlier. This was, however, down from 12.5 percent in the third quarter. Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtor’s chief economist said that, in his opinion, there was a slowdown because buyers were taking a second look at the market, especially in areas where the prices have increased 20 percent to 30 percent.

Some of the hardest hit regions, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Jacksonville and Sacramento, where investors were pouring into the market place, have cooled off a little, probably a good thing. According to the National Association of Realtors, in spite of some slower growth right now, California has four of the nation’s five most expensive markets with San Jose leading the pack at a median single family home price of $775,000.

The Manatee Association of Realtor’s year end comparison statistics comparing 2013 to 2012 are also pretty impressive. Sales of single-family homes in Manatee County increased 12.7 percent from 4,981 in 2012 to 5,612 in 2013. The median price rose 19.4 percent from $180,000 to $215,000 and the average sale price rose 13.2 percent from $240,274 to $272,050. In addition, the days on market came down 19.9 percent from 53 in 2012 to 43 in 2013.

The numbers for townhouses and condos for closed sales increased 12.4 percent with 2,051 sold in 2012 and 2,305 sold in 2013. The median sales price was up 18.1 percent from $110,000 to $129,900 and the average sales price was up 11 percent from $152,851 to $169,675. The days on market were a real shocker dropping 31.1 percent from 80 in 2012 down to 55 in 2013.

As we know, Anna Maria Island’s numbers are even better than the county as a whole, and our listing prices are amazing, as I reported two weeks ago in this column. So is this a good thing or are we headed for trouble again?

Nationally, it looks like buyers are remembering the bubble years and are not jumping into the market with the same frenetic pace as they were before the bubble burst. Good for them. No one should be caught on that out of control train again.

Locally, I’m still worried, but it appears that not even the flood insurance controversy is having that much of an impact across the board, as I personally would have thought. Anna Maria Island is such a sought after destination and so unique, even for Florida, the buyers and visitors keep coming.

So that’s my year- end report. The real estate market is good, and the stock market has also turned around. So now you can go back to your beach chair and book and not think about it for another year. That’s assuming you can find the beach – that would be the place with the sand, the water and the thousands of beach umbrellas – the price we pay for beauty and increasing real estate values.