Tampa Real Estate Market

Like many cities in the Sunshine State, Tampa has been hit hard by the recession in the United States as the Tampa real estate market has fallen, with home values plunging and foreclosures skyrocketing. The market may have been overheated before, spurred on by speculation, which has contributed to its fall in prices.

However, all is not bleak. The market for real estate in Tampa seems to be on the rebound as of late. According to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, there were 1,131 homes sold in October, up from just 876 the year before, many likely spurred on by the government stimulus-rebate program for home buyers. Condo sales volume was up too, as were villa and townhome sales.

However, prices are still lagging on homes for sale in Tampa. The average sales price of a residential home sold in October was $170,932, down from $205,410 in 2008. Condo prices were down by around $34,000, townhomes were down by around $36,000 and villas were down by $38,000 — great news for buyers but not so good for sellers.

And the St. Petersburg Times reported that sales in the Tampa area in November were up by more than 50% in the month of November, as compared with the previous year’s figures. Mortgage default rates were still high, with October giving the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area a 15% 90-day-plus delinquency rate, the highest of 2009, and a 9% foreclosure rate — also the highest of the year. As these homes are returned to the banks, the inventory available will continue to build up.

Dallas Real Estate Market

The Dallas real estate market seems to be recovering slowly, although there are still a number of challenges facing the Dallas-Fort Worth region. According to a  November 29, 2009 article from the Denton Record-Chronicle, home foreclosures have decreased in the most recent year. the piece, composed by Candace Calisle, noted that “Fewer homes were posted for foreclosure this year in Denton County compared with last year, according to a recent study conducted by Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. Denton and Dallas counties were the only two in the 19-county study that showed decreased net foreclosure postings, said George Roddy Sr., president of the Addison-based listing service. ‘We got a pretty good indicator, which is, Denton is faring better than most of the other counties in the metro area,’ Roddy said.”

A relatively steady trend was reported for Dallas home sales and prices, according to a November 25, 2009 article in the Dallas Morning News. According to the piece, written by Steve Brown, “Dallas-Fort Worth home prices held almost steady in the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index – down 1.2 percent from a year ago. It was one of the smallest annual declines in more than a year in the closely watched index of home prices around the country. September prices were down 0.7 percent from August, ending a six-month string of month-over-month gains…Nationwide, prices fell 9.4 percent in September from a year earlier in the 20 cities Case-Shiller tracks. The numbers continue to show gains from earlier in the year, analysts said. North Texas home prices are about 7 percent higher in the Case-Shiller index than they were at the bottom of the market in February.”

A November 24, 2009 article in the Dallas Business Journal took a slightly different angle on real estate in Dallas. According to the piece, “Home prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are down 1.2 percent in the third quarter, but North Texas homeowners are faring much better than those in other U.S.-based cities, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s S & P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index report. Only Denver has had a price decline as slight as the drop experienced in Dallas. Most other American cities experienced declines of 3.3 percent or more during the third quarter, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report.”