Is Now The Time To Buy Tampa Real Estate?

Although home sales in some parts of the country have been lethargic, the Tampa Real Estate Market has been taking off recently.

In fact in March, sales in Hillsborough County were up 13.5% year over year, in Pinellas County up 13.2%, and up 20.6% in Pasco County.

So is now the time to buy Tampa Real Estate?

Some recent articles say yes.

Fortune Magazine at the end of March had an article “Real Estate: It’s Time To Buy Again.”

The article describes several items pointing to better times ahead.

One is the inventory of new homes is extremely low. That is certainly true here in the Tampa Real Estate Market, with many builders having no inventory homes available, or not ready for a few months.

The second is the huge price declines. Could some prices have declined too much? Driven down by the large numbers of foreclosures and short sales we are now facing, we see brand new Tampa area townhouses that were selling for $150,000 in 2006 now being sold for $40,000 – $50,000. For a monthly mortgage payment less than what renters are paying for the same home, it could be prices have gone too low. And these declines are seen across price ranges and types of homes. Even luxury homes that sold for $1.2 million now are going for about $500,000.

Fortune, even picked the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area the fifth best city for home buyers, saying that renters will pay 31.6% more to rent than to own the same home.

Though there are many unknowns with our economy, there are lots of signs that now might be a great time to buy a primary or vacation home in Tampa, or along the beaches of St. Petersburg and Clearwater.