Drew Harwell | Tampa Bay Times |
“Tampa Bay home prices last month made their highest year-over-year jump since the housing boom, soaring 27 percent over July 2012 and reenergizing worries about a new bubble.
The typical single-family home here sold last month for $172,000, the highest median price in five years, as buyers clawed away at stretched supplies of homes for sale, a Tampa Bay Times analysis of listing data shows.
About 3,275 homes sold last month, a 20 percent year-over-year jump, even as Realtors said the number of for-sale homes remained far below a healthy market. Florida Realtors, using the same data, is expected to release its formal monthly report Aug. 21.
Resurgent prices are great news for sellers after the dirt-cheap years of the housing bust. But they’re not so welcome among frustrated low-income and first-time buyers already battling bidding wars.
“I actually feel bad for them, I do,” said Karen Krenn, an agent with HomeXpress Realty in Brandon, who has struggled to find a home for one young couple for six months. “Sales are good, and from a Realtor perspective that makes us happy. But we should use some caution in our optimism, too.”
Seven out of the ten local homes sold last month were non-distressed, the highest rate of conventional sales in five years. As the cheap foreclosures and short sales that once dominated the market dry up, the broader market’s prices will continue to climb.
Though cash buyers remain king of the market, buying up 42 percent of the homes sold last month, their share of the local sales slid for the seventh month in a row. Cash-rich investors from hedge funds to local flippers are finding fewer home deals that could leave them room to earn a profit.”