Condos, not houses, helping increase glut of homes for sale

Condos seem to be driving the increase in the inventory of unsold homes on the market. That's what emerged from an analysis of Tampa Bay area home sales data for October.

About 41,000 homes were listed for sale last month in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. The biggest growth occurred among condos in Hillsborough.

The number of condos for sale in and around Tampa grew from 1,976 to 4,032 from October 2006 to October 2007. The condos bloated the county's overall inventory from 13,229 to 15,092 year over year.

Several forces seem to be at play. First, apartment buildings converted to condos have swollen the market. Second, investors are trying to sell units in recently completed condo towers in downtown Tampa and Channelside.

I would suggest a third possible cause: As single-family home prices come down off their housing boom highs, buyers no longer need to economize by buying into less expensive condos.

Comments

[Fuzzy Bear]

James:

If you are using data from the MLS, it also appears to be tainted and not providing a true picture.

If you add in data for the for sale by owner, forclosures and single family homes being rented in the area, the numbers change Significantly. What I am seeing is data provided by professional marketing groups such as the NAR, etc. that provide an upbeat outlook. However, the numbers in the MLS are misleading and are a poor source for data. In fact, the NAR has missed every single prediction it has made in the past year.

I do not disagree with you that condos may outpace homes, but the numbers I have seen put the two much closer than you have mentioned.

[Dave]

Here's an interesting site that I think conveys the way most people are thinking these days.
patrick.net

[Rachel Sartain]

Unfortunately there is not a good source for collecting the sales data other than the Realtor Associations. Numbers can be pulled from the tax records but they are not clear, nor always accurate. The numbers from the MLS provide the best overall picture. The numbers are the numbers - good, bad or ugly. It is all about how you interpret and present the statistics.

[Sandra]

I went online and read www.patrick.net and found some intersting information. I did feel that it was totally one-sided (all on the negative side). I know, I know...the Realtor Associations are too positive. Is there a happy medium somewhere? Or is the housing market totally crappy with no coming back for years?

[James Thorner]

I think it's appropriate to use MLS stats since that's what we used during the housing boom. To use other stats now would not be comparing apples to apples. The MLS is probably the best local snapshot we have, aside from our personal experience buying and selling homes.