Other parts of Florida catching the Miami, Tampa housing disease

Existing home sales in Florida slid 26 percent in March over the same a month a year earlier. About 9,142 homes sold last month versus 12,356 in March 2007.

Florida home prices were off 15 percent during the same period, from $242,800 to $205,600. A spurt in short sales - the practice of selling a home for less than the outstanding loan balance - has helped suppress prices.

Noteworthy in the March numbers was the how the real estate slump has spread to what had been relatively immune markets. Miami was one of the top sales losers, but places like Ocala, Jacksonville and Pensacola also had worse-than-average declines.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater figures were skewed for March. That's because Realtors from Pinellas and West Pasco counties failed to report their numbers. They blamed glitches with a new computer system.

So what we do have for the Tampa metro area is pretty much restricted to Hillsborough and central Pasco counties. And the numbers weren't all that horrendous - considering.

Single family home sales were down 11 percent year to year, from 1,107 to 1,250. Prices were off 18 percent, from $219,800 to $180,500.

Comments

[Fuzzy Bear]

They blamed glitches with a new computer system.

Interesting excuse!

Lets see how the resets from 2006 impact the market in the next few months.

Yet the county appraiser will continue to increase non-homestead properties as if the boom prices are still with us.

“Yale University economist Robert Shiller, pioneer of the widely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, said there’s a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30 percent drop in the historic depression of the 1930s. Home prices nationwide already have dropped 15 percent since their peak in 2006, he said.”

[dionysis]

Is not all that bad if you saved money. I saw this coming, it had too. I bought 3 acres with a house for 67k. Cash. Not too bad.

[k]

Intersting for April so far. SFH in Hillsborough have a median *increase* over March - back to $200k. The drawback is that volume appears to be off the pace a good bit now. The sellers might be buying into the realtor "great time to buy" schtick by holding steady. (insert whiney, vitriolic other reasons here)
Still another week+ to go, but if this continues, it will appear to be bump on the way back to March's trend of shallow price losses to increase volume....which is healthy if you think of it in the lancing-the-boil sense :>

[Fuzzy Bear]

Intersting for April so far. SFH in Hillsborough have a median *increase* over March - back to $200k.

Why? Is it because more higher priced homes sold which inflates the medium price? Sure looks that way!

[k]

Fuzzy-Logic...
That's how a median works. You can say "more higher-priced homes" or "more homes at a higher price". It's pretty much the same with regards to price. Nice try though.

[Fuzzy Bear]

That's how a median works.

Duh!

K rap!