There are Only 654 Homes Left for Sale in Pinellas County

I have known we were in a seller’s market here in Tampa Bay for quite awhile but in checking today’s stats, my mind was a bit blown.  We are down to a mere 654 single family homes for sale in Pinellas County – and we have a population of over 1,000,000 with thousands moving to Florida daily!  Hillsborough County has 1,059, Pasco has 440, and Sarasota has only 581.  This means we have under a one month supply of homes available in the greater Tampa Bay area.  In English, that means if no more homes came on the market, we’d run out of homes to sell in under a month.  This. Is. Insane.  This is the biggest seller’s market we’ve had in 25+ years.

Wondering why we are seeing an extreme shortage right now?  There are several reasons:

1. 1. Covid had the opposite effect of what we in real estate thought it would.  I was bracing for having no sales for months when the opposite happened.  People who stayed employed began working from home more and needed more home office space.  Two adults working from home?  Two home offices needed, so they don’t drive each other crazy.
   2. Quarantining?  People have decided they want pools and more outdoor space if they are going to be home more.  Thus, they want to upgrade.
   3. Then half of NYC decided to move here, too.  Great – more buyers!
   4. Interest rates plunged to sub-3%.  This brought even more buyers and investors out of the woodwork.
   5. With covid rampant, no one wanted to put their homes up for sale and have strangers coming through who could potentially be infectious.  This has resulted in a serious lack of inventory (number of homes for sale) and an over abundance of people who wanted to buy.
   6. The foreclosure & eviction moratorium.  People don’t have to pay their mortgages right now, so why would they sell and move?  I know there are differing opinions on this but without getting too political, I am having a hard time with how the moratorium is affecting small time landlords.  They are not able to receive rents right now, nor can they sell their properties if rented, even if they are receiving no rent.  And they haven’t been receiving money for nearly a year now.  A lot of people who sadly lost their jobs during Covid do have equity in their homes and could sell and move to a rental, and thus avoid foreclosure completely.  But the moratorium is delaying this from happening at a time when we desperately need more homes to become available.

We are even seeing a shortage in Tampa Bay luxury homes.  I listed one waterfront single family home in St. Pete and one Downtown St. Petersburg luxury condo over $1,000,000 in the last 30 days and both received multiple offers and are currently under contract at amounts well over asking price.

The moral of the story?  If you can sell now, do it, and you’ll get the best price for your home in 25 years.  We are seeing multiple offers on every home we list, and most are selling way, way over the asking price.  Wondering what your Tampa Bay home is worth?  Call me and I’d be happy to do a complimentary market analysis for you.