St Petersburg, FL  April 15, 2008

The good news is that the absorption rate for single family homes has increased each month this year. Listings are still three times the number in 2005, the hot market, but only twice that of 2003. The average price is still sliding and is about in the 2003-2004 range. Once again, though, remember that these are averages so the number reflects foreclosures, short sales, and more people buying less expensive homes – it doesn’t necessarily mean that prices have declined that much in a particular neighborhood, though the number of sales has decreased pretty much across the board.

Condo absorption rose from January to February and stabilized in March. Inventory is 3½ times what it was in 2005, which reflects a number of new condominium projects that have been completed but haven’t sold out. The average is only 3% below 2005, which reflects more expensive condos in the new buildings.

There are a number of short sales on the market. Though we had several seller accepted offers on “short sale” properties, none of them have made it to closing – usually due to a higher offer coming in two or three months after our offer, but before final lender acceptance.

So far this month our office has five times as many contracts as new listings, so that bodes well. When making appointments to show properties to our buyers, our team frequently finds properties that went under contract the prior day. Still trying to determine when our market hits bottom? Just remember that it’s a historic number – you’ll only know it was the bottom when it’s already on the way up.