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

February’s Housing Statistics for the Tampa Bay area are very promising and are headed in the right direction. After an impressive December but slow January, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Sales for February increased by over 11% from January and also increased by over 11% from February of last year. Combining January and February, year to date sales are tracking at 16% higher than last year. Once again, townhouses and condos are leading the way with a whopping 46% year to date increase over 2010.

Since the greatest increase is in the townhome and condo market, we are still seeing lower prices overall. However, prices for February 2011 did increase over January of 2011. I know that my average sales price has decreased and I have been selling a lot of townhomes and condos to investors. However, I am also selling to first-time buyers and empty nesters. It really is only a matter of time before that inventory is cleared out and prices start to inch up again. As a matter of fact, months inventory is down to less than 9 months. I’m really starting to feel that 2011 may be the year we start to see a turnaround in the housing market.