Tampa Palms, Westchase, Carrollwood and Tampa Bay Real Estate News From Jeanne Prigitano

It might be a little premature but, as I said in my February analysis, it really is starting to feel like 2011 is the year that the Greater Tampa area might be headed for a housing recovery.

I have been very busy and so have many of my colleagues. Where we only saw investors back in the market, we are now seeing many first-time buyers. We are also seeing “regular” sales and not just short sales and bank-owned. We are even seeing move up buyers, second home buyers and people relocating from other parts of the country. It is starting to feel normal again, even if it is a new kind of normal.

Enough with what I feel. Let’s look at the numbers.

March 2011 sales increased over 30% from February 2011 and over 17% from March 2010. Year-to-Date sales are approximately 18% higher than last year.

I have spoken a lot about months inventory. That is how many months it would take to sell the current inventory of homes on the market. It is calculated by taking the number of homes for sale in the month divided by the number of sales in that month. A 6 months inventory is considered a balanced market, neither a buyer or seller’s market. Anything greater than 6 months is considered a buyer’s market and anything less is considered a seller’s market. Well, guess what? Months inventory for March 2011 is 6 months. The last time we saw that was May 2006.

I am not sure we really have a balanced market just yet. I do know it has been harder to find homes for my buyers. So, is the Tampa area headed for a housing recovery? I sure hope so. At least, it is starting to feel that way and the statistics seem to support that feeling.