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Did home sales in Tampa Bay jump ahead of the Fed's interest rate hike?

 
This is the study of a home in central Pasco that sold for $1.705?million in November, the second-highest sale price in the Tampa Bay area and one of four Pasco sales topping $1 million.
This is the study of a home in central Pasco that sold for $1.705?million in November, the second-highest sale price in the Tampa Bay area and one of four Pasco sales topping $1 million.
Published Dec. 23, 2015

With Florida's real estate market "definitely tightening," as one economist put it, home sales in the Tampa Bay area showed decidedly mixed results in November.

In Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, year-over-year sales of single-family homes were essentially flat, although sales of condos and townhomes jumped substantially — 13 percent in Hills­borough and 16.6 percent in Pinellas.

Pasco and Hernando counties notched only modest gains in single-family home sales.

All four counties continued to suffer from a weak supply of available homes.

"Because of the shortage of inventory, if you price (a home) based on the recent market, it's selling above asking price," said Irwin Wilensky of St. Petersburg-based SunRaye Realty.

One notable fact about November's results: For the first time in memory, Pasco had four sales above $1 million, including the second-priciest property in the entire bay area. That reflects the county's growing appeal to buyers of higher-end properties.

"There's a real seismic shift in the terms of what we'll see in the way of Pasco County," said Scott Miller, an agent with Premier Sotheby's International Realty. "Taxes are about half of what they are in Hillsborough, and you're just 30 minutes from Tampa International (Airport) and a slightly greater distance to the beaches. It's just impossible to beat."

December sales figures will be watched closely after the Federal Reserve's decision this month to raise interest rates for the first time in seven years, a move that will affect mortgages rates.

"We think this will influence fence-sitting buyers — and, more importantly, fence-sitting sellers who intend to buy as well — to act before rates get much higher," said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist of Realtor.com.

Although the Tampa Bay area still ranks well above the national average in the percentage of cash sales, more buyers are now financing their purchases.

The most expensive bay area property sold in November was a 5,100-square-foot penthouse at the Cloister of Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg. Initially priced at $3.149 million, it went for $2.8 million after just two weeks on the market.

The city's downtown condo inventory is low at a time when thousands of winter visitors are pouring into one of the bay area's most popular spots to dine, shop and stroll.

The exception to the condo shortage is problem-plagued Signature Place on First Street S, where 19 units are on the market. That's more than twice the number of combined active listings in all five condo towers on nearby Beach Drive.

Hillsborough had no sales higher than $2 million in November — the top price there was $1.625 million for a Mediterranean-style lakefront estate in the gated Steeplechase community in Odessa.

In Pasco, four homes sold for more than $1 million, two of them in the Estancia community near the Shops at Wiregrass and a new outlet mall in the southeastern part of the county. The most expensive, though, was a nearly 10-acre horse farm in the Pasco Trails area of central Pasco that went for $1.705 million.

The seller was an "81-year-old man who invited me to his birthday party and half of Pasco Trails was there," said Miller, the Sotheby's agent. "It's that kind of community, very close-knit, very friendly."

The highest price paid in Hernando County was $575,000 for a 35-acre equestrian and cattle ranch in Brooksville. Amenities for the new residents — both two- and four-legged — include a saltwater pool, six-stall barn and eight fenced pastures.

In all four counties in the Tampa Bay area, single-family homes continued to move fast. The median number of days on the market in Hillsborough plunged from 55 days a year ago to 43 days in November.

Meanwhile, the median prices for single-family homes rose in all four counties — up 20 percent in Hillsborough to $210,000; up 9.1 percent in Hernando to $120,000; up 5.6 percent in Pasco to $149,5000; and up 4.7 percent in Pinellas to $183,275.

For Florida as a whole, sales of single-family homes edged up only 1.9 percent while the median price rose 13.6 percent. November marked the 48th month in a row that statewide median prices increased year over year.

"We are ending the year on a high note, but the market in Florida is definitely tightening," said John Tuccillo, chief economist for Florida Realtors. "Although the recent Fed increase will not affect the housing market in any significant way in the next few months, the rise, coupled with the absence of inventory, could cause the market to slow down a bit as we enter 2016."

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.