Tampa Housing Inventory in Short Supply

A recently released report by the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors (GTAR) shows that housing inventory supply in the greater Tampa Bay area has steadily decreased every month in 2014.

To read the full report, click here.

Since the beginning of 2014, housing inventory has dropped over 60% to a low not seen since August of last year.

Essentially, with a 4.3 month supply of housing inventory (a measurement of how long all existing homes on the market would last assuming no new supply was to enter the market) the competition for home buyers will become even more competitive as the summer selling season gets underway.

These figures, when compared with other national and local economic factors, can have both a negative and positive connotation depending on which side of the real estate equation you are on.

For home sellers, having a lower monthly supply means there are fewer homes to compete against. With less competition, sellers have the upper hand - assuming, of course, there are buyers in the market looking for homes.

But, as we've seen in recent months, there are buyers in the market.  The economy is beginning to trend in the right direction.  Job growth has improved each month in 2014.  With more jobs comes more income, and with more income comes the ability to afford more homes.  Therefore, home buyers are more at a disadvantage as they are competing with more and more buyers for fewer and fewer properties.

For home builders, those left after the housing crisis and those new firms in the market, have an important role to play to increase the number of new homes for sale.  The market has shown that there are buyers willing to buy, but there are not nearly enough builders of single family homes to meet demand.

And for real estate agents, representing a seller is virtually guaranteeing a sale.  So long as a listing has everything in order, it should not stand on the market for very long.  However, for agents representing buyers, much more work needs to go into educating buyers on what the lack of inventory means and the speed in which listings will go off the market.

Typically, a more balanced market has an inventory supply of 6-7 months.