So much for supply getting scaled back. The number of homes for sale in Tampa has risen substantially since the first of the year. This is to be expected as the prime home selling season is approaching. But we’ve got over 1000 more residential properties available as compared to this time one year ago. And we’ve got over 700 new listings since the turn of the New Year.

How about demand? Demand is rising as well. This is also to be expected as we come out of the slow season for Tampa real estate. But there were about twice as many properties under contract a year ago as compared to today.

I’m not shedding any great light on the fact that the market has only slowed in the past 12 months. One only needs to read the print media headlines occasionally to figure that out.

So why buy in this market? One compelling reason to buy in this market is the availability of homes. The likelihood that a buyer can find that dream home is certainly the highest it has been in a long time. Another compelling reason is that buyers will most likely not be be rubbing shoulders with other interested buyers. Sellers are willing to listen to buyers request and make reasonable concessions to get a property sold. How about the cost of money? Rates remain very low right now. Should rates go up, it could erase any benefits of waiting for further price declines.

But so many would-be home buyers are waiting for a sign that all is well. Waiting for a sign that the market has shifted. Waiting for a sign that the final bottom has been reached and we are on the right side of the “V” (related post). And by then, all the aforementioned reasons to buy may be gone.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.