Tampa Bay home sales rebound off weak spring, but challenges remain
By Drew Harwell
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Jul 9, 2014

Tampa Bay home sales rebounded last month after a disappointing spring, rising 3 percent over last June and renewing hopes that the housing recovery is back on track.

About 3,400 single-family homes sold here in June, the second-busiest month for sales since the housing bubble burst, Realtor data show. The median home sold for $167,000, about 2 percent higher than at the same time last year as prices near a post-bust peak.

Home prices here have consistently gained since the market bottomed in 2011, with median prices climbing year-over-year for 30 of the past 31 months.

Those jumping costs nudged out bulk investors and tight-budget buyers, causing sales to drop nearly every month this year. But pent-up demand from the spring slowdown, coupled with some of the year's lowest mortgage rates, have helped nudge home shoppers back to life.

"Home buyers still appear to have a little more spring in their step as … job growth and consumer confidence continue to improve," Wells Fargo Securities economists wrote in a commentary released Wednesday.

The changing tenor, analysts say, could reflect a market that's shaking off the distorting effects of big-spending investors and a flood of underwater homes.

All-cash deals, many from investors, dropped last month to 35 percent of all home sales, the lowest point since 2010. And not since 2008 have conventional sales made up such a big part (73 percent) of total sales - and short sales and foreclosures such a small slice (27 percent).

About 750 Tampa Bay condos sold last month, leading to the biggest year-over-year sales jump since last summer, and condo prices continued a 14-month climb, to a median of $85,000.

Mortgage rates for a 30-year fixed loan dropped to 4.14 percent last month, down from 4.53 at the start of the year.

Though buoyed sales inspired optimism from real estate agents, analysts said a host of worrying challenges for home buyers remain, including strained supplies of homes for sale, restrictive lenders, high levels of delinquent mortgages and overstretched affordability for hopeful homeowners, especially first-time buyers.

"While the improvement has brought about a sense of relief," Wells Fargo Securities economists wrote, "the fundamentals are only marginally better than they were a few months ago."

Contact Drew Harwell at (727) 893-8252 or dharwell@tampabay.com. Follow @drewharwell.

Tampa Bay housing numbers

Single-family home sales

AREA	JUNE 2014	MAY 2014	JUNE 2013
Tampa Bay	3,401	3,367	3,287
Hillsborough	1,453	1,368	1,425
Pinellas	1,080	1,157	1,017
Pasco	759	734	711

Median home price

AREA	JUNE 2014	MAY 2014	JUNE 2013
Tampa Bay	$167,000	$162,000	$162,500
Hillsborough	$182,990	$182,550	$186,500
Pinellas	$160,000	$159,900	$158,950
Pasco	$150,000	$147,332	$143,000

Source: My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service