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Building Waits On Recovery

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

Published: October 31, 2008

TAMPA - Tampa Bay area builders are constructing fewer homes and struggling to increase demand among buyers. The good news is that their pain is paying off: The inventory of unsold homes is dwindling, according to a report released Thursday.

Builders started construction on 1,155 single-family homes in the third quarter, a decline of 30.8 percent from the same quarter last year when work started on 1,668 homes, according to Houston-based housing consultant Metrostudy.

"Consumer confidence is low and probably won't improve until after the election," said Tony Polito of Metrostudy's Tampa division.

Polito attributed the low buyer demand to Florida's job losses. The Tampa Bay area lost 22,700 jobs during the fiscal year that ended in September, he said. Only Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Riverside, Calif. and Miami lost more jobs during that time.

Single-family housing inventory - homes under construction, finished vacant homes and model homes - totaled 5,778 units at the end of the third quarter.

That includes these counties: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus. It would take nine months to sell all those homes at the current pace, Metrostudy said. Even so, inventory fell 29.2 percent compared with September 2007.

There were 959 lots delivered to the Tampa market during the third quarter, compared with 3,411 lots during the third quarter of 2007. That brings the total vacant lot inventory to 31,451 units.

It would take 72.9 months to sell all those lots, an increase of 31.5 months compared with last year, experts say. A healthy market, Polito said, should have a lot supply of about 18 to 24 months.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

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