Unexpected positives provide glimmer of residential market hope
New data shows housing sales in the Tampa Bay market hit unexpected highs this past December, and now there's a buzz among residential real estate practitioners who wonder if 2008 will be known as a rebound year.
But it's too early to chill champagne, said Home Encounter's Peter Murphy.
"It was unusual to see that kind of demand spike in December, but it was a little bit overdue," said Murphy, CEO of the Tampa real estate company, which releases monthly reports on the local housing market. "Prices have come down in some categories rather dramatically, and many people had money they had not yet spent."
Foreclosures also could have contributed to the rather high month as well with many banks possibly looking to close out some outstanding property before the year ended, Murphy said. There could be some artificial inflation from some blowouts from builders and banks that had existing inventory on the market they were ready to move, he said.
Slow season turned on end
December sales rose 14.5 percent over November while new listings fell 21 percent, according to Home Encounter, based on Multiple Listing Service numbers from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.
The Pinellas Realtor Organization announced similar numbers a few days later, showing that single-family home listings had dropped more than 11 percent compared to December 2006 and condominium sales were up 1.1 percent in Pinellas.
Luxury condo sales in Hillsborough also saw some signs of recovery in December, probably no more evident than at The Plaza at Harbour Island, which just opened to residents last year.
"Since the start of January, for what I typically sell between $400,000 and multimillion-dollar listings, we are definitely seeing a pickup," said Traci Burns of The Toni Everett Co., who handled unit sales at the 20-story Plaza. "Some of the lower price points, like the $100,000 and $200,000 listings, I really don't see much movement there,"
The Plaza's 132 residences are 80 percent sold, including a recent closing of a $2.5 million penthouse, said Leonard J. O'Donnell, president and CEO of Patrinely Group LLC, which developed the $100 million tower.
Marketwise, there is a sense that the worst is over, O'Donnell said. "The pricing is as good as it's going to get. If a project is not well received right now, then it's probably a project that shouldn't have been built in the first place."
Refreshing market news
Buyers have been ready to come back to the market for months, but negative media reporting has continually scared them away, said John Stone, principal and managing director of multifamily investments and foreign capital services with Colliers Arnold's Clearwater office.
"The buyers market is a funny thing, and if those buyers read the newspaper and are told that there's something wrong with the market, they'll decide to wait a month or two," Stone said. "If they read that prices are dropping, they may decide to wait until it hits bottom. But by the time they read about it hitting bottom in the paper, it will already be coming back up."
While Stone doesn't want to depend on a single month of numbers to dictate an entire market cycle, he said seeing the numbers that have come out of December have made him optimistic about what 2008 will bring.
"It's quite refreshing news that we had a month that the world thought was OK," he said. "It's a nice sign that we're probably bumping across the bottom of the market somewhere, and that a lot of things have already been sucked out of the market."
Politics of real estate
Housing industry players are closely watching this year's political scene as candidates propose change. It's hard to tell whether their proposals will help or hurt the market, practitioners said.
Florida voters are considering a constitutional amendment that Gov. Charlie Crist claims will lower taxes.
"If that tax situation passes, there will definitely be some changes," said Martha T. Thorn, a Belleair Bluffs real estate practitioner with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. "A lot of buyers right now are sitting on the fence waiting to see how this all plays out. Once we know what happens with that amendment, those buyers are going to make a move one way or another. We just don't have a clue what it will do."
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/01/21/story9.html?b=1200891600^1577653&page=2
New data shows housing sales in the Tampa Bay market hit unexpected highs this past December, and now there's a buzz among residential real estate practitioners who wonder if 2008 will be known as a rebound year.
But it's too early to chill champagne, said Home Encounter's Peter Murphy.
"It was unusual to see that kind of demand spike in December, but it was a little bit overdue," said Murphy, CEO of the Tampa real estate company, which releases monthly reports on the local housing market. "Prices have come down in some categories rather dramatically, and many people had money they had not yet spent."
Foreclosures also could have contributed to the rather high month as well with many banks possibly looking to close out some outstanding property before the year ended, Murphy said. There could be some artificial inflation from some blowouts from builders and banks that had existing inventory on the market they were ready to move, he said.
Slow season turned on end
December sales rose 14.5 percent over November while new listings fell 21 percent, according to Home Encounter, based on Multiple Listing Service numbers from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.
The Pinellas Realtor Organization announced similar numbers a few days later, showing that single-family home listings had dropped more than 11 percent compared to December 2006 and condominium sales were up 1.1 percent in Pinellas.
Luxury condo sales in Hillsborough also saw some signs of recovery in December, probably no more evident than at The Plaza at Harbour Island, which just opened to residents last year.
"Since the start of January, for what I typically sell between $400,000 and multimillion-dollar listings, we are definitely seeing a pickup," said Traci Burns of The Toni Everett Co., who handled unit sales at the 20-story Plaza. "Some of the lower price points, like the $100,000 and $200,000 listings, I really don't see much movement there,"
The Plaza's 132 residences are 80 percent sold, including a recent closing of a $2.5 million penthouse, said Leonard J. O'Donnell, president and CEO of Patrinely Group LLC, which developed the $100 million tower.
Marketwise, there is a sense that the worst is over, O'Donnell said. "The pricing is as good as it's going to get. If a project is not well received right now, then it's probably a project that shouldn't have been built in the first place."
Refreshing market news
Buyers have been ready to come back to the market for months, but negative media reporting has continually scared them away, said John Stone, principal and managing director of multifamily investments and foreign capital services with Colliers Arnold's Clearwater office.
"The buyers market is a funny thing, and if those buyers read the newspaper and are told that there's something wrong with the market, they'll decide to wait a month or two," Stone said. "If they read that prices are dropping, they may decide to wait until it hits bottom. But by the time they read about it hitting bottom in the paper, it will already be coming back up."
While Stone doesn't want to depend on a single month of numbers to dictate an entire market cycle, he said seeing the numbers that have come out of December have made him optimistic about what 2008 will bring.
"It's quite refreshing news that we had a month that the world thought was OK," he said. "It's a nice sign that we're probably bumping across the bottom of the market somewhere, and that a lot of things have already been sucked out of the market."
Politics of real estate
Housing industry players are closely watching this year's political scene as candidates propose change. It's hard to tell whether their proposals will help or hurt the market, practitioners said.
Florida voters are considering a constitutional amendment that Gov. Charlie Crist claims will lower taxes.
"If that tax situation passes, there will definitely be some changes," said Martha T. Thorn, a Belleair Bluffs real estate practitioner with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. "A lot of buyers right now are sitting on the fence waiting to see how this all plays out. Once we know what happens with that amendment, those buyers are going to make a move one way or another. We just don't have a clue what it will do."
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/01/21/story9.html?b=1200891600^1577653&page=2