The luxury home market has held up relatively well over the last 2 years compared to the general market. Those of us focusing on the luxury home segment know that this market is usually the last segment to slow down and the first segment to recover. The most recent figures released by The Institute For Luxury Home Marketing show that the median price nationally remained virtually unchanged at $1,154,881. This is only a slight decrease from the 2008 high in January just above $1,190,000. The national median price per square foot was $333.
In the Greater Tampa Bay Area for the month of October the Mid-Florida MLS reported 47 sales over $1 million in the 5 county area encompassing Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Bradenton, Sarasota, and the surrounding suburbs. This number is down from the 60 sales recorded in September, but is more of a reflection of seasonal swings. November and December are historically much better sales months and I expect that trend to continue when looking at the pending sales. As of November 9th, there are an additional 104 homes (over $1 million) that are under contract in the Mid-Florida MLS for our area. Inventory of homes over $1 million in our market increased from 2292 homes at the begining of October to 2500 homes at the beginning of November. We do, however, expect a similar drop in inventory and an increase in sales like we experienced at the end of 2007, based on the 250% Internet traffic increase we have seen over the last few weeks on our listings.
In the last couple of months we've also seen buyers from the UK rushing to make a purchase because the British Pound has been declining against the dollar (20% since August). And while many people consider the U.S. housing market to be in shambles, most don't realize that countries like Denmark, New Zealand, The United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Canada, & Norway have all had larger annualized price declines in 2008 than United States.
If you'd like further information about the state of the luxury home market in the Tampa Bay area, please e-mail me at steve@thefloridaauthority.com.
Steve Eckhardt, Broker
Cornerstone Properties & Investments, Inc.
