The Numbers Driving Our Market: January 2021

What numbers are driving our South Tampa real estate market? Let’s look at last month’s stats to find out. This past January, there were 117 home sales, which is a 46% increase compared to the 80 homes that sold in January 2020. What’s even crazier about this number is that January usually sees the lowest number of home sales per month. Over the past five years, it’s averaged 78 sales, so 117 is obviously a big jump. That’s the story of our market over the last 12 months—everything has shifted, and there’s a lot of activity. Next, the median price of single-family homes was $630,000, which is a 9% increase from the $579,000 mark recorded in January 2020. This increase falls in line with what we expected a year later. The most interesting stat—and one we talk about a lot—is the months’ supply of homes on the market. January had just a 1.5-month supply, which is historically low. December 2020 had a 1.8-month supply, which isn’t surprising, but January 2020 had a 3.17-month supply. We’re certainly feeling the pinch of the lack of homes on the market. As a refresher, having a 1.5-month supply of homes means that if no new homes were listed, it would take 1.5 months to sell all available inventory. 133 new listings hit the market, which is a slight drop from the 159 we saw in January 2020. That dip in new listings certainly isn’t helping our supply problem. Homes’ average days on market, meanwhile, was just 49 days. This time last year, that number was 103.

"We’re certainly feeling the pinch of the lack of homes on the market."

As far as mortgage rates go, both conventional and jumbo loans are hovering around 2.75%. The exact number doesn’t matter so much as the fact that rates are all the way down into the 2s, which is very low. This means that, although inventory is low, it’s still a good time to buy because you can get a favorable mortgage for your house. The only challenge is finding the right house. The bottom line is that more homes are selling, they’re selling for higher prices, and they’re not lasting long on the market. This means more inventory is needed to even out this market. If you have questions about these figures or are thinking of buying or selling a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you. We’re also excited to announce that we’re close to publishing our 2020 year in review, so if you’re not on the mailing list to receive this hard-cover report, visit southtamparealestatereport.com and sign up. We’d be happy to mail you a copy.