Tampa Bay snapshot shows a shrinking real estate presence for one industry
By Margie Manning
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 3, 2017

If you think you're seeing fewer bank branch offices around the Tampa Bay area, you're not imagining it.

There were 1,120 bank branches in the seven-county area as of June 30, according to a new deposit market share report released early Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That's 30 fewer branches than on the same day a year ago.

The same is true statewide. There were 5,139 bank branches throughout Florida on June 30, down from 5,285 on the year-ago date.

Banks are shrinking their real estate footprint locally and nationwide, to avoid overlap as the banking industry consolidates. Technology, such as online banking and mobile apps, means banks don't need as many branches as they had historically, although bankers say there will always be a need for brick-and-mortar because customers prefer to deal face-to-face with bankers on big-ticket items, such as home or business loans.

Vacant bank branches are likely to sell to medical office buyers, as health care jobs are the fastest-growing employment sector in the nation, or quick-service restaurants, another rapidly expanding sector, brokers from Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler Realty in Lakeland recently told the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

While the number of offices are declining, total deposits held by banks locally are growing. There were $109.1 billion in local deposits as of June 30, up 6.4 percent from the $102.6 billion in deposits held by local banks a year earlier. Those deposits are money held in checking and savings accounts as well as certificates of deposit. Successful banks use deposits to fund loans, including loans that businesses use to expand their operations, hire more workers and buy real estate.

The FDIC report calculates each banks' market share based on deposits. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the perennial market leader in Tampa Bay, increased its share by 0.3 percent, and now holds 17.42 percent of the deposits in the area.