Tampa-St. Pete existing home sales up 11% in October – Tampa Bay Business Journal

Existing single-family home sales in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market were up 11 percent in October as sales prices become more manageable for the typical buyer.

The Tampa-St. Pete area closed on 2,021 homes in October compared to 1,814 a year ago, and was below the 15 percent average statewide, according to numbers released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors. Median sales prices were down 26 percent from $205,600 in October 2007 to $152,300 last month.

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Tampa sees increase in existing home sales – Tampa Bay Business Journal

Existing home sales in the Tampa Bay area went up in the third quarter compared to a year ago, as home sales statewide experienced an upswing.

Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater had 6,502 existing single-family homes close through the third quarter, up 10 percent from the 5,913 sold in 2007. That was double the state average of 5 percent, although its median value drop of 19 percent to $169,700 was more in line with the drop through the rest of Florida of 20 percent, said the Florida Association of Realtors.

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Coldwell launches Spanish initiative – Tampa Bay Business Journal

Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate plans to begin offering Spanish language resources Oct. 31.

The new program, dubbed Casa Coldwell Banker, will offer homebuying and selling resources in Spanish to the state’s growing Hispanic community, according to a news release. The program also provides Coldwell Banker sales associates with new specialized tools to market to Hispanic buyers, the release said.

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Tampa’s existing home sales on the rise – Tampa Bay Business Journal:

Existing home sales for Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater climbed to 2,174 last month, up 29 percent from September 2008 while Lakeland was up 27 percent to 284 homes sold in September.

Sarasota didn’t have the same success, but its 7 percent drop to 550 units was the most contained drop of any market in the state.

In fact, only five of the 20 markets tracked by the Florida Association of Realtors showed declines with the statewide average up 24 percent over the previous year.

Values haven’t followed, however. The median home price in Tampa dropped 20 percent from $200,700 last year to $160,500 last month. In Lakeland and Winter Haven, the median home price fell 16 percent to $139,500, while in Sarasota-Bradenton, the median price was down 29 percent but remained just above the $200,000 mark.

Statewide, the median price dropped 22 percent year over year from $224,700 to $175,100.

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