The Thanksgiving holiday is over and the Tampa Bay & Sarasota real estate markets are back into full swing. After a few slow weeks, I've written 2 contracts and had calls from several new buyers. By almost all accounts, the market seems to be stabilizing. Existing home sales in the Greater Tampa Bay area were up 10% for the 3rd quarter compared to 2007 numbers. Unfortunately, Sarasota sales slid 16% in the 3rd quarter compared to last year. That being said, I think we will see gains in both areas for the 4th quarter. I'm starting to see our roads become more congested and the "snowbirds" are showing up at the restaurants and entertainment venues. Inventories continue to drop and the average luxury price looks to be increasing. The charts below show the 7-day and 90-day rolling averages for inventory & price for the metro area's luxury market (e.g. top 10 zips with median prices above $500k)
Obviously, we are not seeing the volume of sales that we were seeing in 2004-2005, but the number of "showcase" homes on the market, compared to just 6 months ago, is declining. Back in May, I had customers that were having a tough time deciding because of the number of spectacular homes available. As the better homes are sold, the remaining homes that will require work, are sitting and driving up the average days on market.
Over the last 5 years that I've been tracking sales numbers, December has always ranked as the 2nd or 3rd best sales month of the year. Based on the number of sales that are already pending for December, I fully expect that trend to continue. While financing continues to be a hot topic of conversation, we're only seeing minor troubles. Over 38% of the buyers in the upper tier paid cash. The top ten highest sales so far in 2008 have all exceeded $5 million with #1 going for $10.25 Million. The home was in Clearwater, on a 1.7 acre lot overlooking the Intercoastal, Clearwater Harbor, & Sand Key. This 12,000+ square foot home was originally listed for $16,000,000. Quite a bargain when compared to the South Pointe Penthouse (Fisher Island, Miami Beach) that sold for $15,000,000 earlier this year.
Nobody doubts the fact that Florida real estate will make a comeback. The international buyers, the boomers, and the people that don't want to continue to shovel snow will make their way to Florida. We made it through another year with no significant hurricaine activity, gas prices are back down, sales are back up........There's a great deal to br thankful for if you just look hard enough!
Awesome stats, Steve.