Bargain priced foreclosure and pre-foreclosure homes helped Tampa and Hillsborough County stage a home sales recovery in 2009. Realtor sales for the year totaled 19,269, 27 percent higher than the 15,227 sales in 2008, according to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. The year finished none-too-shabbily with December sales up 25 percent from a year earlier. GTAR's average December home price, $163,275, approximated that in March. Realtors report home prices stabilizing since early spring. GTAR tracks sales in Hillsborough and east/central Pasco counties, where foreclosure and pre-foreclosure homes made up a third to half of transactions in 2009.