Volume Up, Prices Down In Tampa Bay

The St. Petersburg Times reported that sales of existing homes in Tampa Bay rose 6% from April to May, 2011. The median price, however, dropped from $121,400 to $120,200.

Sound familiar?

You know ... prices go down, volume goes up. Kind of has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?

Nationally, existing home sales in May fell 3.8%. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, blames the lending community for this drop in sales across the country. Yun believes homes sales are being held back because lenders are relying on overly restrictive loan underwriting standards. He also attributes reduced closings to rising gasoline prices and severe weather.

There may be something to what Yun says, but frankly, I think the more obvious reason for reduced real estate sales is unemployment. I'm not an economist, but it just seems to me that when you have over 9% of the work force unemployed, and heaven-only-knows how many people are underemployed or unsure if they will have a job tomorrow, well, people just don't buy real estate. You can't blame them!

Maybe sales will pick up next month. Keep your fingers crossed.

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