Many Good Things In Tampa Real Estate Market

July 1, 2009 by Lenny Gurvich · Comments Off
Filed under: Real Estate Market Reports, Tampa Home Buyer Tips, Tampa MLS, Tips for Sellers 

June 2009 has come and gone. So let’s see what’s been happening with regard to the Tampa real estate market:

Inventory Continues to Decline

This is big news in my opinion. The number of active listings in the City of Tampa continues to decline at a good pace, with just over 6200 residential properties listed for sale on our MLS. By comparison there were just under 9000 listings active at this time in 2008. It was July of 2006 the last time listings were at this level. Remember those market conditions? That was the beginning of the run up in active listings to their peak of over 9000 in February of 2008. Declining supply of homes for sale is a good thing.

Demand Continues to Increase

I measure demand by the number of pending listings, those that are under contract waiting to close. There are just over 2000 properties tied up as of today, July 1st. This time last year? Just over 1000. Last time this many were pending? Try August of 2006. Increasing demand for Tampa homes is a good thing.

Sales Holding Their Own

One of the headlines in May was that sales activity had slipped somewhat as compared to May of 2008. A quick look at MLS data indicates that June sales will be up slightly as compared to June of 2008 for the City of Tampa. This is also a good thing.

Price Declines Stabilizing

The Case Shiller Home Price Index for April (2 month lag) is out, and it shows that prices did not drop all that much from March to April. Tampa saw a flattening of those numbers last summer also, then the bottom fell out again in October. Will this flattening continue? If it does it will be a good thing.

So the march to a more stable market seems to be continuing for now. We need to mention however that 62% of those pending listings are either pre-foreclosure or are post-foreclosure REO bank-owned properties. About 47% of those pending listings are tagged as short sales, requiring third-party approval.

Looking to buy? Looking to sell? Questions regarding the market? Contact us.

Data used is from the Mid-Florida Regional MLS for the City of Tampa, all brokers/agents included.