Local Housing Market Cools Slightly

By Shannon Behnken, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Sep. 27–TAMPA — Area home prices slid slightly in August, a sign that the red hot housing market is beginning to cool off, some real estate experts say. Even so, prices are still up 30 percent from the same month last year.

Meanwhile, prices of previously owned homes posted their second-highest level on record nationally, and homes sold at the fastest pace in 26 years, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market had 4,788 homes change hands in August, 46 more than the previous month, but the median sales price fell from $217,400 to $215,600, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

George Bodmer, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, said he doesn’t think the numbers represent a trend but does think price appreciation is beginning to slow.

That said, sellers shouldn’t worry about the slight dip, Bodmer said.

“We’re in a great market in Florida, and we have more people wanting to buy than we have homes,” he said.

Nationally, the median sales price rose 15.8 percent to a record $220,000, despite economists’ predictions of slight declines.

Lawrence Yun, an economist with the National Association of Realtors, said interest rates, generally less than 6 percent, are the lowest in 40 years and the nation saw 4 million jobs created in the past two years.

Those factors should continue to push home prices up, he said.

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