After strong summer, Tampa home sales slow

“We’ve got a considerable lack of inventory which caused the lack of sales,” said Andrew Duncan, a real estate agent at RE/MAX Dynamic. “I think we’ll see a big ramp up in the start of 2016, with continued low interest rates but the prospect of higher interest rates.”

The tight supply in Tampa is pushing prices higher. The median price of a home sold in November was $210,000, a sharp 20 percent jump from a year ago. Tampa was one of the hardest hit areas during the foreclosure crisis, with thousands of distressed properties hitting the market; it still ranks as No. 10 on the list of top metropolitan market foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac, but the numbers are much improved from the worst of the crisis.

Investor demand has been quite strong in Tampa, and banks have been packaging properties in bulk to sell to hedge funds, according to Duncan. That has meant very few bargain-priced homes available for owner-occupant buyers.

“There are still foreclosures and short sales but very few, and most of the ones that are selling are selling at retail prices,” added Duncan. “We just don’t see much of that bank inventory hitting the market anymore.”