Real Estate Trends | Spring has Sprung

As the flowers and trees start to blossom, there is another change in the air. With drops in foreclosure filings and a rise in the buying market, could Spring bring a new season for real estate?


According to an article published by Housing Wire, Housing starts rise 7.2 % in March 2011. This is after a long decline of months. The data is collected from Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development every month to compare to previous months and previous years. March reached the highest peak in 16 months.

Another noteworthy statistic to highlight is that RE/MAX National Housing reported that, “Home sales jumped more than 10% in 53 of the 54 metros tracked by RE/MAX between February and March”. This is a huge accomplishment in such a harsh season of retail. In this article it also quotes Freddie Mac in projecting that annual sales this year will be up a total of 5%. Another important thing that Freddie Mac monitors is foreclosure prevention measures and Foreclosure cases. They reported to the Federal Housing Finance Agency that preventions dropped for the fifth straight month in a row and that Foreclosure starts are down 91,000 since last month and 71,000 down from this month last year.

Here in Tampa Bay, we are seeing similar real estate trends. The St. Petersburg Times released an article this week stating, “Sales of previously occupied homes in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties jumped nearly 32 percent, from 3,258 in February to 4,296 in March.” That is a spike we haven’t seen in about five years locally. Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wells Fargo stated, “"It's a further indicator that the worst may be over. The bay area economy is modestly improving." In Hillsborough County alone, there was a 33% jump in sales from the previous month.

All of these numbers might be overwhelming at first but they are a huge boost in confidence that the Real Estate Market has strong momentum. Spring is always a high home buying season and this year let’s hope that it really moves the real estate market forward. Confidence in the market is building. SI Real Estate sees new progress every day. If you would like to list your property for sale or start looking to purchase a new home call us today at (813)631-1806 or email us at Yourhome@SIRealEstateInvestments.com.