In what would normally be considered a slow
month for Tampa Bay real estate sales, nearly 3800 homes were sold and closed
in the month of October. That is an increase of nearly 25% over home sales this
same time last year and up more than a third from 2010 home purchases.
As the inventory of homes for sale in Tampa Bay continues
to fall, sales remain high, a good indication of a continued recovery for the
housing market in Tampa Bay. It’s great news for home owners, but not so good
news for the home buyers.
With less than a 4 month supply of homes for buyers
in the Tampa Bay area, finding a one can prove to be quite difficult. Properties
priced at market value are moving very quickly and many home buyers continue to find
themselves competing against several other prospects when trying to make a
purchase in a popular area with a low inventory.
I recently listed a 3/2 Townhome located in South Tampa. We decided to price the property at the top end of
the current market value based on other sales in the area. Within 7 days we had
10 showings and a full price offer. Not bad for a townhome priced at $350K. A smaller inventory and
larger pool of buyers is slowly driving prices up in some areas of Tampa Bay.
Short Sales still dominate the number of homes
under contract and scheduled to close, but the number of active short sale homes for available continues to fall. There is speculation that they could rise,
depending on how economic conditions progress, and the possibility of expiring
tax cuts for many could result in financial hardship and the possibility of
falling behind on payments.
The number of bank owned properties for sale across the
Tampa Bay area rose, indicating that banks are moving on completing some of the
foreclosure actions stalled by months of irregularities, fraud, and sheer volume of people in default. Sales of
REO's rose as well which off set the increase. There is no glut
of foreclosed properties in our area, contrary to media reports.
The number of negotiated and closed Short Sale properties
remained about the same. These types of sales still represent the vast majority
of homes under contract in the Tampa Bay area.
New home builders in Tampa Bay continued to sell
their homes at a steady pace showing increased sales once again over the
previous month. There are also more new homes under contract and scheduled to
close than there were the month before.
The Monthly Stats:
Pending sales fell for the 5th month in a row.
833 of the 7300 Short Sales under contract
closed last month.
The highest priced home sold in Tampa Bay went
for $5.2 Million.
Distressed properties still accounted for nearly
40% of all home sales over the 30 day period tracked.
