It was another year of Jack-and-the-beanstalk growth for Sarasota-Manatee. The construction craze continued unabated, with new homes and communities sprouting from Palmetto to Port Charlotte. Yet with all this growth, the working classes found it harder than ever to find a place to live. National retailers put us on their radar screens, a growing Hispanic community continued changing the face of local business, and North Port became a power to the south. And Mother Nature reminded us that all our development and prosperity hinges on her good will, as red tide polluted our beaches and air for months, and hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared past us before wreaking unimaginable destruction on our neighbors in the northern Gulf.

It's All About Real Estate

Real estate dominated every other topic in Sarasota and Manatee in 2005. Prices continued to shoot into the stratosphere, with Sarasota-Bradenton among the top most expensive areas in the Sunshine State. The median sales price in August 2005 for a single-family home jumped 34 percent to $347,400, almost $90,000 over last year's figure. The mushrooming property values affected every segment of our economy. Here's a quick roundup of how real estate affected the region:

CONSTRUCTION CRAZE Developers and contractors, anticipating waves of retiring baby boomers, broke ground on new communities from Parrish to North Port. More than 30,000 homes hit the drawing board for north of the Manatee River this year. National builders discovered the region, buying up big chunks of land, squeezing out local independents. In downtown Bradenton and Sarasota, industrial cranes perched over the skylines as high-rise condo towers continued to go up. The big concern? Finding enough skilled workers to build all these homes, offices and stores.

PIGGY-BACKING ON THE BOOM The trickle-down effect for real estate-related businesses and industries looked more like a torrent. Bankers, mortgage lenders, appraisers and realtors enjoyed a banner year. Community banks took off; Freedom Bank in Bradenton opened its doors with $16.9 million, the largest initial capital raised to date by a local community start-up bank. Others, such as The Bank of Commerce, LandMark, First America and Naples-based Orion Bank, opened new branches. Their biggest worry? All those high-risk, interest-only mortgages, ready to balloon when interest rates rise.

HOMES ON THE RANCH This year several longtime ranches changed hands. Developers plunked down tens of millions for thousands of acres. In south Sarasota County, developers planned 1,869 luxury homes on the 7,800-acre Thomas Ranch between Venice and North Port. A 15,000-home community, the Isles of Athena, is planned for part of the old Kelce Ranch in North Port. Farther south, developer Syd Kitson announced plans to create a city of 19,500 homes in a corner of the environmentally pristine Babcock Ranch in southeastern Charlotte County.

NO PLACE FOR WORKERS After a couple of years of community euphoria over our sizzling real estate market, 2005 showed a downside to skyrocketing property values: Workers can't find affordable homes. Many struggled with long commutes, and some left the area for more reasonably priced communities. "Help Wanted" signs dotted the windows of retailers and restaurants throughout the region, reflecting the scarcity of lower-wage service workers.

All year, developers asserted that the housing problem could be solved with realistic zoning and higher-density projects, but Sarasota County commissioners and chamber leaders agreed that density and the market alone wouldn't solve the problem. Sarasota County created the Community Housing Trust of Sarasota, a nonprofit organization that plans to purchase and keep ownership of land, permitting houses priced for moderate-income families to be built or remodeled. It would also enforce price controls on initial and subsequent home sales.

BUBBLE TROUBLE? No one expects the astronomic jumps in housing prices to continue. But despite predictions that the bubble would soon burst in other parts of the country this year, the prognosis for our region remained cheerfully upbeat. With the bulk of the baby boomers entering their golden years, Florida's population is projected to grow for another decade. Late last summer it looked like some air began to leak out of the balloon in Sarasota and Manatee as price appreciation and sales slowed slightly, but they headed skyward again in the third quarter. Nonetheless, just about everyone's asking what an uptick in interest rates will mean for downtown luxury condos bought on speculation.

The Great Retail Race

Thanks to the influx of well-heeled snowbirds and retirees, Southwest Florida landed on the radar screen of major national retailers. And encouragingly for shoppers and anyone interested in economic development, ambitious developers are fighting to snag the best brand names. On the prowl for these upscale quality retailers: Patrick Kelly, who wants to transform the bayfront Sarasota Quay on U.S. 41 into a residential and retail destination; Isaac Group Holdings, which plans to invigorate downtown Sarasota with its proposed mixed-use Pineapple Square; Westfield, which wants to renovate and expand Southgate and Sarasota malls, both along U.S. 41; the Benderson Development Corp., planning the huge University Town Center residential, retail and office complex on University Parkway at I-75; and Prime Retail, which is requesting a 120,000-square-foot expansion of Ellenton's Prime Outlets mall. Names being dropped include Ralph Lauren, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Coach and Crate & Barrel. Stay tuned to see which developers attract the big ones.