House Market Seems to Stabilize in Southwest Fla.

House Market Seems to Stabilize in Southwest Fla.
by St. Petersburg Times
Photo: iStockAfter free falling for more than two years, west Florida homes sales appear to be bottoming out.
April's housing activity presented a cautiously optimistic picture: Sales are stabilizing as home sellers cut prices to entice buyers. Here's some evidence:
• Sales were up from April 2007 to April 2008 in some of the worst hit markets south of the Tampa Bay area. Sarasota, Punta Gorda and Fort Myers-Cape Coral all reported rising sales vs. a year earlier.
• Tampa Bay area single-family home sales slipped 8 percent year to year, but Hillsborough and Citrus counties both reported little or no decline. Although Pinellas County Realtors said sales were down 10.7 percent, condo sales were higher than they've been since June 2007.
• Pending sales, homes under contract waiting to close, were up in April in every county in the Tampa Bay area compared to a year earlier.
"Sales are stabilizing, but they're stabilizing at a level that's still low," University of Florida economist David Denslow said after Friday's release by the Florida Association of Realtors. "But that's better news than having sales continue to plunge."
Higher sales correlated with lower prices. Where prices dropped the most, like Fort Myers, sales spiked. Business in Fort Myers surged 41 percent in April. The Tampa region's median home price is $176,000, 26 percent below the high mark of $239,300 in June 2006.
"Price, price, price is what sells a house. Period," said Nikki Ubaldini, a Palm Harbor real estate broker affiliated with Keller Williams Realty. "Nine of 10 people just want to know they're paying a fair price."
Denslow assumes home prices won't flatten statewide until 2009. And he expects no sustained home price rise until 2011, when the first batch of baby boomers crosses the age of 65.
April sales in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando counties totalled 2,087. That's 8 percent below April 2007's total of 2,257. Purchases approximated those of April 1999.