TAMPA - There are enough vacant home lots in the Tampa Bay area to last builders 66 months, or more than 5 years, according to a report released Tuesday. And that's if no other land is developed for home sites.

Houston-based housing research firm Metrostudy said the growing inventory is an increase of 35.5 months since this time last year. The selling pace slowed throughout the year, even though additional lots were prepared for home construction.

"Builders aren't starting as many homes, so supply of lots went up dramatically," said Tony Polito of Metrostudy.

The Bay area real estate market's recovery will take time, he said, and it likely will be late 2009 before the market becomes balanced between supply and demand.

There were 915 lots delivered to the Tampa market during the second quarter of 2008, according to the report. That brings the total of finished vacant lots to 31,905, an increase of 9.9 percent from the same period last year.

Hillsborough County's supply is 14,048 lots, or 51.8 months' worth; it would take more than four years to sell them all.

There are nearly five-year supplies in both Pasco and Pinellas counties.

But the worst stories are in Hernando and Citrus counties. Hernando has a vacant lot supply of 11 years. In Citrus County, it would take a whopping 42 years to burn off all its empty home sites, according to Metrostudy.

There was some good news for the market, even though it's tough news for builders.

Builders are pulling back on new development, one of the steps required to shrink the supply of lots and bring it back into equilibrium. That level state is considered an 18- to 24-month supply, Polito said.

Builders started construction on 1,401 single-family homes during the second quarter of 2008, a decline of 28.7 percent compared with the second quarter in 2007. The annual starts rate declined 48.8 percent to 5,767 units, the report said.

The large inventory of home-sites in the Bay area may spell opportunity for builders looking to start new homes.

"There are a lot of lots to choose from," Polito said.

The problem, he said, is finding enough people to buy the homes.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at               (813) 259-7804        or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.