Hunt Real Estate Corp. said this week that it is closing its traditional brokerage in the Sarasota, Fla., market at the end of the year and transferring its business there to rival Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate.

The Buffalo-based brokerage firm operates three Hunt Real Estate ERA offices with more than 70 agents in the Sarasota area, while Coldwell Banker has 10 offices and 500 agents in the same region. All Hunt agents have been offered an affiliation with a Coldwell Banker office near them, Hunt said in a news release.

No payment was made to either firm.

Hunt will now focus on growing its business units and opportunities in upstate and Western New York, as well as in Arizona, where it has a presence in Phoenix.

Peter F. Hunt, chairman and CEO of the family-owned firm, said the company remained positive on the market, but felt that economic conditions made it nearly impossible to do well there in the near-term.

Officials spent eight months doing “an exhaustive study” of the market, the other players, and Hunt’s own business, and felt there was “no reasonable expectation” that any of the companies there would be financially stronger a year from now, Hunt said.

“We came to the conclusion that the business model that dominates that marketplace is essentially flawed. So we made the strategic decision, in the best interests of our people, to place them in the best place for them to survive,” he said of Coldwell Banker. “They are the only players in that market that have the wherewithal to withstand market conditions as they now exist in Florida.”

Specifically, he said expenses, especially for rent and advertising remain “quite high,” and the profit margin is too small. “You wouldn’t believe how many real estate publications there are, and it’s not that big a town,” he said.

The company had entered the market hoping to ride up from the bottom, but “we don’t see the bottom of the market getting any better,” he said, noting that nontraditional foreclosure and short-sales are still expected to dominate the business for at least another two years.

Hunt will maintain a presence in Florida, but not for its full-service brokerage. Two of its three offices will close, but the third will stay open as the firm’s Realty Express office for discount brokerage and exclusive buyer representation services. That office will be led by Charles F. Hunt, the regional general manager.

The firm will also continue operating Hunt Mortgage, Network Title Agency, Hunt Technologies, and its new insurance business.