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Did home sales in Tampa Bay jump ahead of the Fed’s interest rate hike?
With Florida’s real estate market “definitely tightening,” as one economist put it, home sales in the Tampa Bay area showed decidedly mixed results in November.
In Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, year-over-year sales of single-family homes were essentially flat, although sales of condos and townhomes jumped substantially — 13 percent in Hillsborough and 16.6 percent in Pinellas.
Pasco and Hernando counties notched only modest gains in single-family home sales.
All four counties continued to suffer from a weak supply of available homes.
“Because of the shortage of inventory, if you price (a home) based on the recent market, it’s selling above asking price,” said Irwin Wilensky of St. Petersburg-based SunRaye Realty.
One notable fact about November’s results: For the first time in memory, Pasco had four sales above $1 million, including the second-priciest property in the entire bay area. That reflects the county’s growing appeal to buyers of higher-end properties.
“There’s a real seismic shift in the terms of what we’ll see in the way of Pasco County,” said Scott Miller, an agent with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “Taxes are about half of what they are in Hillsborough, and you’re just 30 minutes from Tampa International (Airport) and a slightly greater distance to the beaches. It’s just impossible to beat.”
