There were 2,021 existing homes sold in October, up 11 percent from the same month a year ago, according to a report released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors. It's the fourth consecutive month that sales have either increased or remained flat year-over-year.

 

The median sales price in Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater is now $152,300, 26 percent lower than it was last year. The area hasn't seen home prices that low since April 2004, when the median was $148,800. Prices peaked locally at $239,600 in June 2006.

 

The area bucked the national trend, at least on sales.

 

Nationally, both prices and sales continued to fall. Prices plunged to the lowest level in more than four years, but that still wasn't enough to get buyers off the fence.

 

Sales of existing homes nationally fell 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.98 million units in October. The median sales price plunged 11.3 percent from a year ago to $183,000. That was the largest year-over-year drop on record going back to 1968 and the lowest median sales price since March 2004.

 

Compared with last month, sales were down across the country. But sales were up 40.5 percent in the West when compared with a year ago.

 

Realtors attribute the Tampa Bay area's sales uptick to the increasing number of foreclosed homes, which tend to sell for bargain prices, driving down the prices of other residential properties.

 

The real estate group estimates that sales of distressed properties made up 45 percent of all property sales nationwide in October and nearly 60 percent in Florida.
Locally, today's report follows an even better sales report for the prior month, even though falling prices create more pain for sellers.

 

September's 2,174 sales figure was up 29 percent compared with the same month in 2007. Sales haven't gone up that much on a yearly basis since September 2005, when they jumped 30 percent.

 

September's sales prices, though, fell 20 percent to a median of $160,500.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.