Pinellas County Florida (St Petersburg, Clearwater and the Gulf Beaches) continues to have a buyers’ market. There’s lots of inventory and prices are down considerably from the highs of late 2005. We do have buyers, but they are very price sensitive. Despite what you read in the newspapers, neither life nor the market is about “averages”. For example, although the “average” property has been selling for about 93% of list price, 16% of the properties (excluding new condos) sold at or above list price. Market conditions vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, from building to building – and then it matters how close the list price is to what others are selling for. It’s definitely a time to seek advice from a local professional real estate agent before you buy or sell.

We’re seeing more and more “short sales” – where a home is expected to sell for less than the outstanding mortgage balance. While this often results in a bargain, it’s not for the faint of heart – it may be three or four months from offer to acceptance by the lender(s) and seller, and during that time a higher offer may come in that trumps the existing one. Most buyers don’t want to be in limbo for months on end.

That’s the summary. For those of you who want more details, read the following:

Single Family Homes

The number of listings in Pinellas County has declined 18% in the last year, but that’s not because they’ve been selling. Many homeowners have become discouraged and either taken them off the market, rented them, or in some cases, given them back to the lenders. The number of sales declined by 34%. So – we’ve gone from an 18 month supply of homes to a 23 month supply of homes. The median home price has declined 9.6% and the average home price has declined 8% (February 2007 to February 2008). Again – this doesn’t mean that a particular home has dropped that much, but that more of the sales have been less expensive homes.

Pinellas County Single Family Listings:

Pinellas County Single Family Sales:

Condos

The number of condos listed in Pinellas County has increased over the last year by 12% and the number of sales has increased by 13% so the supply has actually gone down by half a month to a 28 month supply. While the median price has gone down by 16%, the average price has actually increased by 2.5%.

Pinellas County Condo Listings:

Pinellas County Condo Sales:

For more specific information, please contact us.