Tampa-St. Petersburg has first home sales drop since June 2008 – Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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There were 2,243 homes sold in Hillsborough and Pinellasx countiesin May, according to the , down 1 percen t from the 2,270 homes sold a year At the same time median salees prices also dropped, but this time by 20 percent to Sarasota-Bradenton also struggled with a 10 percent drop to 783 units while median prices fell 36 percent to $156,600. Homes in Sarasota-Bradentobn were selling for $244,009 a year ago. Only Lakeland in the Tampa Bay area showedr an uptick with sales growint 18 percent to 320 units while the median pricse dropped 23 percentto $112,300. Statewide home sales were up 16 percentyto 13,921 sales while median priceds fell 29 percent from $203,800 to $144,400.
Although saleas are down, the market is showin g some signsof recovery, one exper said. “The improving sales of existin single-family homes and condos [statewide] is a trend we have been seeingh for several monthsin Florida,” said Sean director of the ’s , in a release. “Wha is new in this month’d data release is that we are seeing evidence or prices beginningto firm. Whilde one month of data does not atrenrd make, it is the first green shot we have seen in some time as far as pricexs are concerned.” However, until prices stop declining, it will be hard to show confidencee in a stabilizing marketplace, Snaith said. The Tampa-St.
Petersburg recoveryh started earlier than the rest ofthe state. The last sale s decline in single-family homes took place in June 2008 when sales droppeed 3 percent and median prices fell 19 Since then, the Tampa-St. Pete regiohn has sold 26,519 single-family homes compareds to 20,156 during the same time periodc ayear earlier, a jump of more than 31 Existing condominium sales continue to tick upward as pricesx fall even further in that market for Pete, which sold 596 condose in May, up 17 percent from a year ago.
Sarasota-Bradenton sales, however, were down 32 percent to 225 unitewhile Lakeland-Winter Haven close d just nine units, a 40 percent decrease from the year Lakeland was once one of the cheapesyt places to buy a condko following the collapse of the housing but even its 20 percent drop to a mediajn price of $68,300 was ahead of both Ocala and both of which have median prices unde $50,000. Across Florida, condo sales were up 21 percentto 4,8389 units while median prices fell 38 percent to