“We survey real estate agents, as we believe that agents will provide an accurate assessment of housing market trends in both the new and existing home markets.”

And by participating each month, they send me the results as soon as they are released.

They ask five simple questions about buyer traffic, home prices and builder/seller incentives. As you can gather on the chart at left, all are on a downward trend, at least in Tampa.

Here are some quotes that different area agents offered:

• “Buyers are very cautious.”
• “Tax reform is not up to expectations, and customers are opting to wait until taxes are brought back into line.”
• “Buyers don’t realize how good a price they can get if they just make an offer.”
• “Mortgage brokers and underwriters are not on same page. Pre-approvals are being turned down when it comes down to the underwriting of the loan.”
• “The market is dead.”