Tampa Bay Counties Among Most Popular Florida Real Estate Markets

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

Tampa Bay counties continued to be among the most popular Florida real estate markets in April 2012, based on sales data released by Florida Realtors. These five counties surrounding the Tampa Bay — Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee and Pasco — sold a combined total of 5,321 single-family homes, villas, condos, townhomes and co-ops in April.

Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota were in the Top Ten counties in total sales, with Pinellas ranking fifth, Hillsborough ranking seventh and Sarasota ranking ninth. There are 67 Florida counties whose residential sales are being tracked by Florida Realtors.

Here are the Top Ten counties in total home sales in April:

2,757      Broward County
2,577      Palm Beach County
2,278      Miami-Dade County
1,835      Lee County
1,524      Pinellas County
1,475      Orange County
1,474      Hillsborough County
1,112       Collier County
1,045      Sarasota County
829         Duval County

Meanwhile, the Top Ten counties in median sales price in April were the following:

$402,500      Monroe County
$385,000      Franklin County
$286,250      Walton County
$240,000      Collier County
$218,000      Saint Johns County
$212,000      Nassau County
$185,000      Okaloosa County
$174,950      Santa Rosa County
$168,500      Miami-Dade County
$160,000     Jefferson County

But the counties with the most expensive homes sold only a couple of hundreds and tens. Only Collier and Miami-Dade sold more than a thousand units. The most expensive county, Monroe County, sold 182 homes. This county is where the popular Florida Keys cities, including Key West, are located. Franklin County, which is located in the state’s Northwestern Panhandle and one of the state’s biggest counties in area, sold only 22 homes. Walton County, also in Florida’s Northwest Panhandle, sold 204 homes. Glades County is ninth in median sales price in April, at $170,000, but it sold only one unit in April.

Among the ten most popular counties among homebuyers, the most expensive markets were the following, including their April median sales prices:

$240,000      Collier County
$168,500       Miami-Dade County
$150,000      Sarasota County
$145,750       Palm Beach County
$140,000      Lee County
$128,000      Hillsborough County
$125,000      Broward County
$122,500      Pinellas County
$119,000      Duval County
$118,000      Orange County

In April 2012, the average sales price in Tampa, the biggest city in Hillsborough and its county seat, was $165,354, which was equivalent to 96 percent of the average listing price of $172,989. Its median sales price for single-family homes was $140,000.

A total of 289 Tampa homes in the less than $50,000 price range were sold and 14 million-dollar and multi-million-dollar homes were sold. Second to the bargain-priced homes was again the $200,000 to $249,999 range, which posted a sales total of 177 units.