Tampa Bay Real Estate Market Is Most Searched Online Among Florida Metro Areas

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

Among 146 metropolitan areas in the U.S., the Tampa Bay real estate market is the seventh most searched online in November 2011, and in Florida, it is the most searched market, according to Realtor.com. It surpassed other well-known markets such as Miami and Orlando. Its seventh ranking nationwide was also an improvement from its eighth ranking in November 2010.

An online search for each market means an executed real estate search, with the searcher or potential homebuyer entering a zip code, neighborhood, town, city, or state, and optional criteria such as price range and number of bedrooms. The count includes all property types such as single-family homes, townhomes, condos, co-ops, commercial properties, raw land and multi-family properties.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area was the only Florida metro area in the Top Ten ranking. The next highest ranking Florida area was Orlando, which ranked 11th.

Here’s how Florida real estate markets ranked in online searches in November:

7  Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
11  Orlando
13  West Palm Beach-Boca Raton
15  Fort Lauderdale
18  Miami
35  Fort Myers-Cape Coral
39  Sarasota-Bradenton
44  Jacksonville
49  Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay
53  Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie
56  Daytona Beach
60  Naples
68  Lakeland-Winter Haven
118  Pensacola
121  Tallahassee
125  Ocala
133  Gainesville
134  Punta Gorda

Nationwide, the ten most searched markets in November 2011 were the following:

1  Chicago, Illinois
2  Detroit, Michigan
3  Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
4  Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona
5  Atlanta, Georgia
6  Philadelphia-New Jersey, Pennsylvania
7 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
8  Las Vegas, Nevada
9  Dallas
10  Riverside-San Bernardino, California

The continued surge in online searches for homes in these metro areas indicate an improving confidence of buyers in the U.S. housing market, particularly in the Tampa Bay real estate market. As a result of increase home buyer demand, home prices continued their rising trend. In many of the 146 metro markets included in the Realtor.com survey, median list prices continued to increase year-over-year. The U.S. median list price in November 2011 was $189,900, an over-the-year increase of 4.05 percent.

The metro area with the highest median list price in November 2011 was San Francisco, California, with a median list price of $625,000. Following was the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc, California area, with a median list price of $539,250. These areas were, however, ranked only 45th and 88th, respectively in online searches in November.

Among the ten most searched real estate markets, the metro area with the highest median list price was
the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, with a median list price of $329,000; the Philadelphia area, with a median list price of $229,900; and the Riverside-San Bernardino area, with a median list price of $199,000.

The Tampa Bay real estate market had a comparatively competitive median list price of $144,200 in November 2011. If you like to find homebuying or investment opportunities in this market, contact Tampa4u.com.