When the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak first hit the U.S., it immediately affected various industries in the country. Residential real estate was one such sector.
A few months into the outbreak, various industries are currently getting back on their feet. Repeating the sequence, real estate is also front and center in this economic recovery phase. Various markets have noticed significant gains in activity. Some of them are even back to conduct business as usual.
Tampa Bay real estate is the latest of these markets to post good news about its operations. In fact, its rebound has been so profound that it surpassed last year’s records in single home sales.
Tampa Bay Housing Market Improves Yearly Performance
After a few months of being impeded by COVID-19, select areas in the Tampa Bay territory posted trends of improvement. These territories include Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. The regions showed an increase in single-family home sales in June 2020 as compared to the same time last year.
To be specific, Hillsborough posted an increase of 0.6 percent and Pinellas noticed an improvement of 10 percent. Whereas, Pasco recorded an increase of 8 percent.
At first, these figures might not seem like a significant improvement. But once you put them in context, they are critical in noting the upwards movement of the Tampa Bay market.
Local Residential Real Estate Was Hit Quite Hard
Soon after COVID-19 made its presence known in the U.S. in March, Tampa Bay real estate activity dropped noticeably.
None of the regions that fall within the area posted any increase in sales in the subsequent two months. But with the arrival of June statistics, this has changed for the better. All in all, this posts a massive improvement for the sector after the few challenging months that it experienced.
The figures were reported by Florida Realtors, who are quite pleased by the positive trends. According to real estate professionals, the market’s performance may continue to improve over the next couple of months. To back this claim, local realtors are pointing towards the past trend of families executing big moves in the summer.
Luxury Properties Were the Market’s Saving Grace
The improvement in the Tampa Bay housing market was vastly supported by luxury property transactions. This includes homes with a price of $250,000 or above.
This market activity also indicates that those looking for expensive properties are not waiting for the pandemic to end. Instead, they are going after the homes that they like and closing sales without delaying them further.
However, this also brings good news for Tampa Bay homeowners. The region posts an overall lower cost of living than other metro areas in Florida. But it’s not short on luxury properties.
Regardless of how Tampa Bay broke its spell, it is safe to say that the market is back on track. If all goes well, it might notice further improvements in the near future and fulfill the predictions of local realtors.
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