First time in 2 years: Tampa home prices don't fall

A surprise in Tuesday's release of the S&P/Case Shiller home price index: Tampa home prices remained flat from June to July, the first time the region hasn't experienced a month-by-month decline since August 2006.

Just a one month reprieve to be followed by further price plunges? Perhaps. The glut of homes on the market suggests prices will keep falling, though no one knows by how much.

And Tampa area home prices didn't look so good when measured year over year. From July 2007 to July 2008, prices plopped 19.4 percent. Cities that performed worse than us: Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco and San Diego.

Case Shiller publishes a 20-city index of which Tampa is a part. In July, 14 of the 20 cities showed monthly price declines. So we were in pretty select company for a change.

Here's a link to the index for July

Comments

[David]

James any word on when the neighborhood watch site will be worked on again? Your friend at the paper said more counties would be added besides just Pasco and Pinellas. It seems some of the links have also been down for weeks. Any info would be great.

Thanks

[Fuzzy Bear]

Just a one month reprieve to be followed by further price plunges?

My answer is yes. The is a huge glut in the inventory in the Tampa Bay area. The medium home price still outpaces the medium income in the Tampa Bay area. Mortgages are difficult to obtain even for those with good credit. Unemployment is near 7% for those receiving unemployment benefits and many of the jobs lost for the Tampa Bay region were of the higher paying jobs. Inflation also plays a significant role as it is having a negative impact on consumers.

[Prusso]

There are some detailed interactive real estate price heat maps at http://www.localetrends.com/metro/tampa_metro_real_estate.php