Being A Buyer In A Seller’s Market
If you’re a first-time homebuyer in the Tampa Bay real estate market, none of this will come as news to you. It may actually only serve to add insult to injury.
If you’re a buyer, however, this will be – more – music to your ears.
Almost half of all homes on the market in the Tampa Bay area are considered to be unaffordable for many buyers. In fact, according to Zillow, nearly 49 percent of homes for sale are considered ‘high-end’ – those priced at $348,000 or more in Tampa Bay – while a meager 20.5 percent are considered ‘low-end’ for under $118,000.
And nationally, the statistics aren’t much different.
Nationwide, more than half of the available homes are considered high-end for their areas while 22 percent are entry-level.
And according to a chief economist at Zillow, this year’s home-shopping season is shaping up to be even crazier than last, affecting first-time and lower-income homebuyers the most as they compete for the few entry-level homes on the market, which, incidentally, are also the ones appreciating the fastest because of extraordinarily high demand.
Median home prices in more than 300 counties, including Hillsborough County, are not affordable for average wage earners, according to a new report from ATTOM Data. And in Hillsborough County over the past year, median home prices grew and home affordability plummeted – by as much as 5 percent year over year.
The report, which looked at home affordability for the first quarter of 2018, analyzed 446 counties and found that median home prices were not affordable for average wage earners in 304 counties, or in 68 percent of the counties.
In Hillsborough County, for example, the median sales price for a home in the first quarter of 2018 was $197,000, according to ATTOM. Compared to a year ago, the median home price in Hillsborough County grew 9 percent, according to the report.
According to ATTOM, the annual income needed to buy a median price home in Hillsborough County is $54,344 – and according to average weekly wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average wage earner in Hillsborough County has an annual income of $52,143.
So sellers still – unsurprisingly – maintain the upper hand.
Because while the number of sales dropped in Pinellas and Hillsborough as the supply of affordable homes in the area’s two biggest counties remained tight, the opportunity to turn a profit on an entry-level home – $100,000 to $400,000 – is still hotter than ever.
And while some homeowners have chosen to sit on the sidelines waiting on the market, interest rates continue to rise – making now the right time to sell.
So whether you’re braving the market as a first-time homebuyer or are considering entering the market as a seller, partner with the experienced professionals at DeLeon Sheffield Company who will walk you through the process, every step of the way, until your buying or selling dreams are realized.
Because at DeLeon Sheffield Company, ‘We’re More Than Realty; We’re Family.’
