The housing market is in full correction mode. Tampa Bay is no exception to this nationwide trend. According to a report by Shannon Behnken of The Tampa Tribune published January 24, 2008...Sales of existing homes and condominiums in the Tampa Bay area continued to fall in December, according to data released today by the Florida Association of Realtors. The median sales price for homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was $194,200 in December. That is down 14 percent from $226,800 during the same month last year. Home sales fell even further – 32 percent in December compared to the same month last year. There were 1,761 sales of single-family homes in December, down from 2,607 a year ago.
So what caused this correction? Several things. One of the first things you learn in any class on economics is that the market cycles up and down. What rises must eventually fall. This correction is no exception. What makes this one particularly painful is that so many sooth-sayers and prognosticators predicted the growth trajectory to continue into the forseeable future. August 2005 was when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. It also signaled the end of the current growth in the US housing market (to be continued...).
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