September a strong month for Tampa Bay home sales, prices

Sales of single-family homes jumped in the Tampa Bay area in September as all four counties had among their strongest showings so far this year.

Hillsborough saw its biggest increase in prices since December — up 5 percent year over year — while Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando fared well in both sales and prices.

That was welcome news to Douglas Elliman Real Estate, a large independent brokerage that has several offices in South Florida but only recently entered the Tampa Bay market. In issuing its first report for St. Petersburg, the company said the Sunshine City is becoming more attractive to residents of high-tax states like New York.

"St. Petersburg was one of the standout regions in Florida this quarter,'' Jay Phillip Parker, chief executive office of Elliman’s Florida brokerage, said referring to the three months ended in September.

RELATED: Big newcomer to Tampa Bay’s real estate market is bullish on the area’s value and ‘kitschy-esque’ charm

Figures released Tuesday by Florida Realtors show solid gains for the entire bay area last month:

Pinellas — Sales of single-family homes up 9.4 percent in September, prices up 6.3 percent to a median of $272,250.

Hillsborough — Sales up 9.5 percent, prices up 5 percent to a median of $255,500.

Pasco — Sales up 14 percent, prices up 9.7 percent to a median of $236,750.

Hernando — Sales up 12.8 percent, prices up 11.7 percent to a median of $189,945.

The top price paid in September was $9 million for a vintage four-bedroom, three-bath "cottage'' on Mandalay Point, a Clearwater enclave of 12 homes overlooking both the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway. Bought by a limited liability company, it is the third Mandalay Point property to change hands since July. Arnold Bellini, co-founder of the software firm ConnectWise, and wife Lauren paid a total of $20.25 million this summer for two parcels that together would be Tampa Bay’s priciest residential transaction ever.

RELATED: Co-founder of Tampa firm ConnectWise buys two Clearwater Beach gulf-front parcels for $20.25 million.

Hillsborough’s priciest sale, $2.8 million, was an off-market deal for a three-bedroom, three-bath house built on Tampa’s Davis Islands in 1947. In Pasco, a buyer paid $900,000 for a riverfront home in New Port Richey while Hernando tallied one of its most expensive sales in years — $1,068,503 for a house in Brooksville’s Southern Hills Plantation.

Statewide, sales jumped 11.5 percent while single-family home prices rose 5.3 percent to a median of $265,000.

Nationally, sales of existing homes — condos and townhomes as well as houses— rose nearly 4 percent while prices were up nearly 6 percent to a median of $256,9000.