Tampa Bay home sales up, but prices plunge
By Susan Taylor Martin
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Nov 6, 2014

Sales of single-family homes in the Tampa Bay area rose in the three months ended in September, but don't go looking to take the Grand Tour of Europe on the proceeds.

Of the state's 20 metropolitan statistical areas, only three had a lower median sales price than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, the trade group Florida Realtors reported Thursday.

While Tampa Bay sales rose 4.4 percent over the same period a year ago, the median price of $145,000 was 9.3 percent lower.

Only the Punta Gorda, Ocala and Lakeland-Winter Haven areas had lower median prices in the third quarter of this year.

Alex Jansen, CEO of Coastal Properties Group International, says South Florida, Naples and Sarasota have long had higher prices because rich people from the Northeast tend to flock there.

"Tampa Bay, for whatever reason, has never been home to those high-price buyers from New York, Boston and the like,'' he said. "I think we're still really the undiscovered gem here. We have beautiful beaches, we're a very metropolitan area and very convenient, yet we just can't seem to get the high-price buyers.''

Another reason for Tampa Bay's low median price is a lot of older, smaller houses built as second or retirement homes.

"Most of the new construction in the last 15 or 20 years is not that type of home, but we still have those homes in our market, which is a good thing for seasonal people or first-time home buyers,'' said Charles Richardson, senior regional vice president of Coldwell Banker.

Statewide, single-family home sales rose 7.6 percent in the third quarter and the median price of $182,000 was up 4 percent. Sales of townhomes and condos dropped by 4.6 percent, though prices rose almost 7 percent to a median of $139,000.

Overall, "The housing market has settled into a stable pattern of activity that is reminiscent of the market before the craziness of the last few years,'' Florida Realtors chief economist John Tuccillo said in a release.

"Sales and prices are up for single-family homes but at sustainable rates. The condo market is reflective of the general declines in new investor purchase in Florida. . . . The good news is that this type of progress in the real estate market is likely to continue.''

Some other third-quarter results:

• The Naples-Marco Island area had the highest median sales price for single-family homes - a whopping $342,500, up almost 16 percent from a year earlier.

• Statewide, the inventory of active listings rose 7.2 percent - good for buyers, less good for sellers.

• Statewide, short sales of condos and townhouses plunged by 59.9 percent, while short sales of single-family homes dropped by 50 percent. That's partly due to the end of a "forgiveness'' period in which sellers who sold for less than they owed did not have to pay taxes on the difference.

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.