The price you list at shapes everything that follows: how many buyers come to see your home, how quickly offers arrive, and how much negotiating room you have. On Clearwater Beach the best guide to that price is what similar homes actually sold for, as recorded by the county. Here is how we read those records with our sellers.
What a recorded sale is
When a home sells, the deed is recorded and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser adds the sale to its records, usually a few weeks after closing. The Property Appraiser marks some sales as qualified, meaning they look like normal sales between unrelated parties. Those are the ones worth comparing. Asking prices on active listings are useful context, but they’re what sellers hope for, not what buyers paid.
Start with the area, then narrow down
For the 12 months through July 2026, the county recorded 408 sales on Clearwater Beach, Sand Key and Island Estates. The middle recorded price was $763,100. Condos made up 329 of those sales, with a middle price of $700,000, and the 78 single-family homes had a middle price of $1,235,000. Among resales where the county’s living area describes the home as it was sold, the middle price per square foot was $528.
Those figures tell you about the market, not about your home. The real work is narrowing down to the sales that are most like yours.
Compare like with like
- Same building first. For a condo, recent sales in your own building are the best comparison, because they share the location, amenities, association and dues. Our condo building guides show recorded sales building by building.
- Similar size. Compare homes of similar living area, using the county’s square footage so you’re comparing on the same basis.
- Recent dates. The more recent the sale, the better. Older sales need more judgement.
- Condition and features. Updates, views and floor level matter, but the county record doesn’t describe them. That’s where an agent who has been inside those units adds value.
A worked example
Imagine a two bedroom condo in a building on Sand Key. Start with every qualified sale in that building over the past year or two. Set aside sales of very different sizes, then look at the remaining sales by date, giving the most weight to the most recent. If there are only one or two, widen the search to nearby buildings of a similar age and style. Then adjust for what the record can’t tell you, such as updates, floor level and view, using what you and your agent know from being inside those units. The result is a range, and your list price sits within it.
Middle price, not average
We use the middle recorded price, the actual sale in the middle of the list, rather than an average, because one very expensive sale can pull an average a long way. Price per square foot is helpful for comparing homes of different sizes, but treat it as a starting point.
Pricing strategy
In our experience, homes priced in line with the best comparable sales attract more showings early, when interest is highest. Pricing well above the evidence often means sitting on the market and reducing later. A few practical points:
- Look at what didn’t sell, too. Homes that came off the market unsold can show where buyers stopped.
- Think about timing. Our five-year look at closings by month shows when sales tend to close.
- Know your costs, so you know your bottom line. Our guide to what it costs to sell in Pinellas County lists them.
- If it’s hurricane season, our guide to selling during hurricane season helps you prepare.
Common pricing mistakes
- Pricing from the highest sale in the building rather than the most similar one.
- Using asking prices of active listings as if they were sales.
- Adding the full cost of renovations to the price. Buyers value updates, but rarely dollar for dollar.
- Ignoring the date. A sale from two years ago reflects a different market.
- Comparing a condo with a single-family home, or a Gulf-front building with one across the street.
For the latest monthly figures, see our July 2026 market report and the market statistics page. You can also see what we’ve sold on our sold listings page. For a price opinion on your home, try our home value estimator or contact us.
Sources
- Pinellas County Property Appraiser qualified sales for Clearwater Beach, Sand Key and Island Estates, sales recorded for August 2025 to July 2026. Counts and middle prices include every qualified, improved, single-parcel sale, new construction included. Price per square foot uses resales where the county living area describes the home as it was sold. The middle recorded price is an actual recorded sale at the middle of the list, not an average, and a recorded price is not an appraisal.