Existing single-family home prices appear to be stabilizing in the Tampa Bay market. The median sales price of homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market hit $129,300, off just 1 percent in the first quarter compared with the year before, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide, the median price dropped 5 percent.
Single-family sales increased 15 percent in Tampa-St. Pete from 5,721 in the first quarter of 2009 to 6,580 last quarter, topping Orlando despite its 42 percent boost.
The median price in Sarasota and Bradenton grew by 8 percent to $159,000, while home sales increased 34 percent to 2,464. Lakeland-Winter Haven experienced a 3 percent increase in median home prices to $105,000, while sales there increased 6 percent to 822.
The news for condos wasn’t as pleasing. Prices for existing condominiums continue to fall, however. In the Greater Tampa area, sales were up 87 percent to 2,306 units but media prices fell below the $100,000 mark to $94,900, a 10 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2009.
Condo prices in Lakeland-Winter Haven dropped 12 percent — almost in-line with the state average — to $59,400 despite a 150 percent increase in sales to 70 units. Sarasota-Bradenton had a 6 percent increase in median sales price to $142,100, adding good news to the 71 percent increase in existing condo sales there.
“Results indicate that the real estate market in Florida has hit bottom and is in the process of stabilizing across most property types,” said Timothy Becker, director of the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, in a release issued by Florida Realtors.
