Tampa Real Estate Market Conditions Report
June 15th, 2007 by LennyG
As the chart above clearly shows, the real estate market in Tampa has, over the last 15 months, experienced greater supply and lessening demand. No new big news of course, but looking at graphically can sometimes really help to understand the current state of the market.
Active listings are those brokered residential real estate listings in the City of Tampa, Florida, while pending listings are those that are under contract to be purchased. Actives is a good representation of supply, while pendings can help to indicate demand. The chart shows the changes in the differences between the two.
For instance, in early March of 2006 there were 5374 active listings available and 2519 listings in pending status for a difference of 2855 between the two. As of this morning there are 8925 actives and only 1492 pendings for a difference of 7433! In layman’s terms: There is a large gap between buyers and sellers!
What’s not represented here is the pent up demand that’s out there. The buyers who want to buy but are cautiously waiting to see what happens to property taxes, insurance, home prices, interest rates, etc. They’re out there.
And now that the property tax questions are beginning to be answered maybe some of them will start to make a move. But it’s not likely. The legislature is going to let the public make the biggest decision about property tax cuts. I imagine that if we get 60% of the voters to agree to the “Super Exemption” proposal, many handcuffed homeowners will decide to make a move which should put some life into the market. But that won’t be decided until late January of next year. Expect more of the same for the remainder of 2007.
