Reading the Real Estate Trends – Tampa Florida

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Real Estate

There are hundreds of websites out there claiming to tell you how the real estate down swing will end up. These websites are great for the novice, but for those who really want to learn about their area – reading the real estate trends is an important thing to learn.

In Tampa, FL, for instance, the trends can be viewed as snapshots over the last 10 years. In January of 2000, the average home price was $71,000. As Tampa became more popular, the price of the average home began to rise with the peak hitting $206,000 about 6 years later. After that peak, the price of the average home slowly fell to the selling price today of $130,000.

What these numbers tell you is the trend of the home prices over a longer period of time. People often talk about recession and real estate failures only in the short period. If the areas that are hardest hit are looked at over a longer period of time, the outlook may seem a bit less harsh.

While the Tampa area has seen falling home prices, the prices are still up 83% over the last 10 years. That is a pretty good increase for only 1/3 of the time a home is mortgaged.

Reading Outside the Lines

Another bit of information to read into is the home sales per quarter. When looking at the smaller picture, the home sales over the last two years have fallen from 11,000 per quarter to 7,000 per quarter. Analysts will run with this number straight to the media and talk up the fact that the property market in Tampa is horrible. But, taking a step back to a longer time frame, there is no reduction at all. Looking at a five year span, the number of home sales per quarter is the same in 2009 as it was in 2004. There was a spike in the middle, but the huge loss in home sales is nothing when all factors and time are taken into consideration.

Looking on the Rim of Tampa Florida

Much of the housing information listed online will refer to the Tampa area as a whole. This means the smaller, more affluent communities will be smashed together with the less affluent communities. If one area sees a huge increase in crime and the housing prices plummet, the housing numbers will also fall even if the other suburban communities are doing just fine. Looking into communities like Westchase, Lutz and Land o Lakes will give you a better idea of the smaller picture that may mean more to you as a home buyer or seller.