We have officially gone from a hot housing market to the hottest housing market in the country according to Zillow. Where do we go from here?
Zillow has named Tampa Bay the top housing market in the nation going into 2022, according to the real estate firm’s annual analysis. This is an increase from last year from fourth place to first, overtaking Austin, Texas, which fell to number 10.
Zillow economists expect Tampa’s home values to rise 24.6% in 2022, according to their press release earlier this month. Tampa Bay’s ever-increasing job market and future homeowners relocating from other areas of the country have naturally led to high demand for housing. In addition, fabulous home appreciation rates, which don’t appear to be ending, have contributed to the rise over other major cities.
The top metro areas on Zillow’s list were in the Sun Belt region for the second year in a row. In addition to Tampa Bay being in the number one spot on the list, two other Florida cities, Jacksonville and Orlando, made the top 10 list of hottest housing markets for the new year. The order of the top 10 breakdown is Tampa, Jacksonville, Raleigh, San Antonio, Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando and Austin. The not-so-hot markets in the country are New York, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Chicago and San Jose.
Time to take a look at our local real estate market, undoubtedly fueled by what Tampa is experiencing. This is what the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee is reporting for December:
Single-family homes in Manatee County had a median sale price of $460,000 compared to December of 2020, up 28.5%. The average for single-family homes was $614,066, up 23.6% from the previous year. Both of these numbers are record-breaking again, and to put some perspective on how high our market has appreciated, I checked the September 2015 single-family home average, which was $316,087, just about double appreciation. Inventory continues to be down, with only a 0.6 month’s supply of properties, buyers are paying 100% of list price or more, and single-family homes are going to contract in six days.
Condos had a median sale price in December of $302,965, up 26.8% from December of 2020, and the average sale price was $377,763, up 3.5% from last year. Making a similar comparison to single-family homes, in September of 2015, the median sale price of condos was $157,500 and the average sale price was $188,652, again about double appreciation. Inventory also continues to be down for condos with only a 0.5 month’s supply of properties, buyers are also paying 100% of asking price or more and condos are also going to contract in six days.
I used September 2015 as a comparison to now because that’s the year the average single-family home in Manatee County sold for more than $300,000, which was very significant at the time.
Zillow’s economist, Alexandra Lee, said in her recent statement: “Buyers should be ready for a strong competition for homes, which means bidding wars and homes flying off the market only days after they are listed.” Basically, across the board, sellers will remain in the driver’s seat, particularly in the hottest markets. However, Zillow indicates even in the cooler markets, there will not be many deals to be made.
Let the sunshine keep shining in on the hottest real estate market in the country, not a northern city in the pack. I think as I write this it’s snowing in New York and Chicago. You think maybe there’s a connection?
