TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Local Home Prices Still Sliding

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHANNON BEHNKEN

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

Published: April 1, 2009

TAMPA - Bay area home prices continued to fall in January, posting a 23.3 percent yearly decline, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, released Tuesday.

"Home prices, which peaked in mid-2006, continued their decline in 2009," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee. "There are very few bright spots that one can see in the data. Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path."

The index is considered a leading indicator of the health of the housing market and is closely monitored by housing experts.

The index tracks 20 metro areas. The overall index showed prices fell an average of 19 percent from January 2008 through January 2009.

The only other Florida city tracked, Miami, posted a 29.4 percent drop.

All 20 metro areas tracked reported negative monthly and annual declines.

The cities with the largest annual price declines were Phoenix at 35 percent, Las Vegas at 32.5 percent and San Francisco at 32.4 percent.

Dallas, Denver and Cleveland faired the best, with declines of 4.9 percent, 5.1 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.

The index does include actual home prices, but the Florida Association of Realtors provided insight last week.

The median sales price of existing homes fell 27 percent to $131,400; it was $178,900 this time last year, according to the real estate group. Part of the reason, experts say, is because some lenders slashed prices of foreclosed homes to get them off their books before the new year.

The good news is that the price drop is spurring sales.

In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, 1,856 existing single-family homes changed hands in February, the real estate group said. That is an increase of 23 percent from the same month last year.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT