Q3 Activity: Stay in-Tune with Your Real Estate Market

Both home sales and home prices saw positive annual growth during the third quarter according to the last report published by the National Association of Realtors. The national median existing home price rose 7.6% from a year ago. This is significant because it represents the highest increase we have seen in any quarter since 2006. At a local level, real estate in Tampa, Florida we saw an increase of 14.3% in median home sales price compared to a year ago. Tampa, Florida also posted a 7.6% increase in the National Association of Home Builders “Improving Markets Index” which identifies areas that have improved from the low point of the downturn.  This is the third consecutive month Florida metropolitan cities showed a gain, but what’s even more encouraging is that this also represents an even larger improvement when looking at the number of cities that posted a gain this time last year.

CoreLogic recently reported that the third quarter brought about the most building permits and new home starts in four years. Builder confidence is obviously high enough and, consequently, new home sales ticked up to the highest annual pace in the last two and a half years!

NAR Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun attributes these favorable increases to simple supply and demand. He said, “Housing inventories have been gradually trending down from a record set in the summer of 2007.” He stated that a more balanced and equal number of buyers and sellers has created a “sustained upturn in home prices. He expects to see this throughout 2013.

NAR president, Moe Veissi cited affordability conditions as a major role player in our improving real estate market conditions. “Historically low mortgage interest rates are encouraging many buyers who were on the sidelines, “he said. He also mentioned that “safe and sensible” mortgage underwriting standards would help push the surge along further.

The real estate market is something we all have in common. It is something that is vital and pertinent in all of our lives at one or many points along the road. It is our hope to share information with our clients, readers and friends so that everyone can benefit from being informed, and are enabled to make sound decisions with regards to real estate.

If you have questions or wish to discuss your real estate goals, please give us a call and put a professional in your corner today.

SI Real Estate offers highly personalized, multilingual, full-spectrum real estate purchase and sales services. We are a boutique for sophisticated investors, select owners or renters who may be upgrading locally, or those making traditional relocations. We also provide turnkey landlord and tenant management. Blending comprehensive insight into the Tampa Bay area with international perspectives for a worldwide clientele, we like to think that “SI Real Estate is Global Real Estate in Every Way!”