Mayfair in Tampa Palms

Good News Regarding the Housing Market

May 25, 2007

Greetings:

Here is some good news regarding the housing from an article in the Business section of The Tampa Tribute today. As you know, the real estate market is ?“local.?” What the market is doing either nationally or regionally may not be the case here in Tampa. However, this article does parallel what is happening in Tampa Bay. The housing market in Tampa has picked up a little bit of stream. The absorption rate of builder inventory is dwindling providing a bit less competition for resales.

It is a Buyers market. Houses that are selling are priced right and show great! Average days on market is currently running on average 120 days.

Sales Of New Homes Go Through Roof
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press

Published: May 25, 2007

WASHINGTON - The beleaguered housing industry is sending mixed signals, with sales of new homes surging in April by the biggest amount in 14 years while prices endured a record plunge.

Analysts said the price drop could provide evidence of builders' desperation. They are looking to reduce a glut of unsold homes in the face of the worst slump in sales in more than a decade.

The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes jumped 16.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000 units. That was far better than the tiny 0.2 percent gain that economists had been expecting.

The Local Picture
Home builders in Florida say they are noticing a resurgence in sales, although they don't have any figures yet to prove it.

"In the last several months, traffic is up and there has been an increase in sales," said Cara Kane, public relations director for KB Home in Florida.

Aggressive pricing has helped spur many sales, Kane said. In a recent promotion, buyers were offered $10,000 in closing cost assistance, she said.

The average price for a KB Home town house or single-family house in the Tampa Bay area is $250,000 to $300,000, Kane said.

Joseph A. Narkiewicz, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Builders Association, suggests several reasons for the increase in new home sales:

?•Home sales typically pick up in the spring.

?•Prices are attractive and there is an ample supply of homes on the market.

?•Interest rates remain attractive.

?•A regional marketing campaign and the just concluded Parade of Homes have helped drum up interest among potential homebuyers.

"It's not doom and gloom," Narkiewicz said. "The uptick in sales shows that there are good buys available, that it's a good time to buy, and that there's confidence in the economy."

Edie Ousley, spokeswoman for the Florida Home Builders Association, said her organization's economists predict that the Florida housing market will show signs of a rebound - "the light at the end of the tunnel," she said - by the third quarter of this year.

Some of the coastal regions of Florida, which saw a lot of construction and have a lot of housing inventory to be sold off, may not recover until some time in 2008, Ousley said.

SOUTH LEADS
The Commerce Department said the South led the nation in single-family sales of new homes. Below is the one-month percentage change by region:

South: + 27.8

West: +8.5

Northeast: +3.8

Midwest: -4.0

Regards,

Lyn