Tampa Bay Area's Real Estate Market Is Smoking Hot: Report

TAMPA, FL — House hunters on the prowl for properties in the Tampa Bay area might notice the pickings are a little slim and the competition from other buyers fierce. That, according to Realtor.com, comes courtesy of Tampa having one of the hottest markets for real estate in the country right now.

Tampa, in fact, was named to Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Markets for U.S. Real Estate rankings list for January 2017. It’s a relative newcomer to the list, which is created regularly after the website’s number crunchers analyze the country’s biggest metro areas to find those places where buyers are actively searching for properties and homes are moving off the market in the blink of an eye.

While California dominated the January 2017 list, with 12 markets represented, including eight in the top 10, Tampa earned 18th-place honors. Tampa’s ranking puts it up five spots since the December 2016 report was released.

See also: The 20 Hottest Markets for U.S. Real Estate in January 2017

January is typically known as a cool period on the real estate market, but Realtor.com says that is just not the case this year. The national market has hit new lows in housing supply even while demand remains strong. Homes across the country are selling at a pace that is 4 percent faster than witnessed in January 2016 while prices remain at record highs, Relator.com reported.

“We saw evidence of a stronger-than-normal off-season starting last September and October due to pent-up demand and surging interest from first-time buyers,” says Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke of Realtor.com. “The downside to this strong off-season is that we have started 2017 with a new low volume of available homes for sale and a new high for prices.”

Median list prices also tend to reach their lowest point in January each year. This year, however, the current estimate of $250,000 is steady from December and stands about 10 percent higher than a year ago.

Tampa is the only Florida market that made Realtor.com’s rankings for January 2017. The top five is as follows:

1. San Francisco, CA

2. San Jose, CA

3. Vallejo, CA

4. Dallas, TX

5. San Diego, CA

While the list is dominated by towns in warmer parts of the country, that’s not always the case. Denver, Colorado, came in eighth place while Columbus, Ohio, ranked 12th.

To check out listings in the Tampa area visit Realtor.com online.

Realtor.com isn’t the only real estate website to rank Tampa among the hottest markets for 2017. Trulia also released a listing of markets to watch this year. Both Tampa and Sarasota were recognized in the report.

Photo courtesy of the City of Tampa Facebook page