After half a year of crunching numbers, it's safe to say that home sales in the Tampa Bay area have stabilized. October sales were up 11 percent year over year, from 1,814 in October 2007 to 2,021 in October 2008

That's the good news. But you already know the bad news.

About a third of the transactions involved bank-owned or other foreclosure properties. That partly explains the steep decline in the median home sale price the past year. The Tampa price fell from $205,600 to $152,300.

Let's call it "unstable stability". The phenomenon is statewide if you exclude northern Florida markets largely exempt from the early stages of the housing bust in 2005-06, but catching the worst of it now. Thirteen of 20 markets covered by the Florida Association of Realtors reported rising sales in October.

Here's a state chart from the Realtors.