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Encouraging news for home sellers
Real estate experts are predicting a rebound for the housing market.
Bay Area (Bay News 9) -- Finally some good news for home sellers.
Real estate experts are predicting a rebound for the housing market, which has been on a downturn for almost two years, though analysts claim a complete recovery is still a long way off.
Recent home sales in the Tampa Bay area revealed an upward climb for sellers.
"Yeah, bad time to sell, great time to buy," said Seminole homeowner Matt Raciti.
So, like many sellers around town, he's reduced his asking price for his Seminole house. Raciti lowered it by $16,000.
"We've had about 500 hits on the website," Raciti said. "We've had about 75 flyers from the front of the house here, but only two phone calls."
A report released by Tampa-based Home Encounter showed home sales were way up in December, the best in two years. And the last month of the year is usually the weakest time of year for sales.
Bay News 9 partners at the Tampa Bay Business Journal said it's a sign big changes could be coming.
"According to the initial MLS listings and such, is that sales are up about 14.5% just tracking three different counties, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco," said Tampa Bay Business Journal Residential Real Estate Reporter Michael Hinman.
The same real estate report predicts Pasco County will rebound by November of this year, Pinellas County at the beginning of 2009 and Hillsborough by 2010.
Though analysts claim a complete recovery is still a long way off.
"It's encouraging, it's good to see, Raciti said. "I've talked to a few realtors as well, they've noticed a lot more activity recently, so it's a good sign,"
The Home Encounter report also shows new home listings were down in December. That means less inventory for buyers, which could be good for sellers when it comes to competing for a better offer.
Home encounter says the December findings are significant because they were so widespread, but warn people to use cautious optimism.
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