Pinellas County Home Sales Continue to Climb

Existing homes sales continue to be a roller coaster in Tampa Bay during May.

Home sales rose 6 percent, from 2,590 in April to 2,749 in May.

Existing sales in March skyrocketed to the highest levels in five years, raising hope that the housing market was healing from the wounds left by a faltering economy and a deluge of foreclosures.

(source: St. Petersburg Times)

Florida's existing home sales surged in March

Florida's existing home sales surged in March, recording the single biggest month since late 2005.

Sales of Florida condos and homes jumped 36 percent last month surpassing the rest of the U.S., according to figures from the Florida Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.

The news comes on the heels of the Times reporting Wednesday that Tampa Bay's existing sales in Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties jumped nearly 32 percent, from 3,258 in February to 4,296 in March.

Median sale prices in the Tampa Bay area increased from February for homes and condos.

The housing market is rebounding, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. "Existing home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we're clearly on a recovery path," he said.

Cash and investors are dominating the real estate market in the United States.

Cash accounted for a record share of 35 percent of sales in March. The cash rates are even higher in several bay area counties. So far in 2011, 59 percent of sales in Pasco were made with cash. Pinellas logged 66 percent.

In Florida, single-family sales jumped 35 percent from February to March, with a median sales price of $126,300.

Condo sales exploded across the state, too. Sales rose 39 percent from 6,984 in February to 9,703 in March, and 24 percent from March 2010.

The worst of the real estate downfall may have passed, experts said.

Credit: St. Pete Times

Foreign Buyers Expected to Revive Florida Real Estate Sales

Foreign investors are expected to bolster housing sales in Florida in 2011, with many looking to take advantage of the "undervalued" property that is on the market.

Florida home prices are bottoming out and international property buyers look like they are reviving the Florida housing market this year, Stirling Sotheby's International Realty has claimed.

Roger Soderstrom, chief executive of the company, forecast that there would be much more optimism in the sector and many prospective investors are beginning to move to secure a bargain home in a good neighbourhood.

"There is a segment of real estate in Florida that is undervalued today," Mr Soderstrom says. "Real Estate remains a neighbourhood business, and some neighbourhoods that have experienced fewer casualties in the housing market are performing much better than neighbourhoods with a large number of foreclosures."

Pinellas home sales jump nearly 28 percent in January

Pinellas County home sales jumped nearly 28 percent in January.

Real estate agents closed deals on 957 homes and condos, the best January since 2006, according to figures released by the Pinellas Realtor Organization.

Closings for single-family homes jumped nearly 36 percent to 595 last month from 438 in January 2010. Condo sales were 15 percent higher for the same time period. January is typically one of the slowest months for closings, the group said.

St. Petersburg Times, By Mark Puente, Staff Writer

Pinellas Home Sales Soar

Pinellas County home and condo sales jumped 29 percent in December.

Closings for single-family homes jumped to 754 in December from 586 in December 2009, according to figures released by the Pinellas Realtor Organization.

When combining condo sales with single-family home sales, closings jumped 24 percent last month compared to one year ago.

Source: St Petersburg Times

Buy vs. Rent: An Update

NY Times by DAVID LEONHARDT

Below is an updated list of rent ratios — the price of a typical home divided by the annual cost of renting that home — for 55 metropolitan areas across the country.

A good rule of thumb is that you should often buy when the ratio is below 15 and rent when the ratio is above 20. If it’s between 15 and 20, lean toward renting — unless you find a home you really like and expect to stay there for many years.

Metro area	Ratio
East Bay, Calif.	35.9
Honolulu	34.4
San Jose, Calif.	32.7
San Francisco	27.9
Seattle	27.3
Charlotte, N.C.	27
Orange County, Calif.	27
New York (Manhattan)	26.7
Raleigh, N.C.	26.2
Portland, Ore.	25.9
North – Central New Jersey	25.2
Nashville	24
Denver	22.6
San Diego	22.1
Long Island, N.Y.	21.4
Milwaukee	21.4
Austin, Tex.	20.5
Norfolk, Va.	19.9
Richmond	19.7
Memphis	19.3
Bridgeport, Conn.	18.5
Hartford	18.4
Boston	18.4
Washington – Northern Virginia – Maryland	18.3
Oklahoma City	18.2
Baltimore	17.6
Columbus, Ohio	17.6
Palm Beach County, Fla.	17.6
Salt Lake City	17.6
Sacramento	16.7
San Antonio	16.7
Chicago	16.6
New Orleans	16.2
Philadelphia	16.1
Houston	15.9
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	15.7
Miami	15.6
New York	15.4
Los Angeles	15.4
Kansas City, Kan.	15.3
Inland Empire, Calif.	15.1
National average for metro areas	15.1
Indianapolis	15.1
Jacksonville, Fla.	15
Minneapolis	14.9
St. Louis	14.6
Las Vegas	14.3
Atlanta	14.3
Orlando, Fla.	14.1
Tampa Bay, Fla.	14
Cincinnati	13.9
Dallas – Fort Worth	13.8
Phoenix	13.3
Detroit	12.4
Cleveland	11.7
Pittsburgh	11.4

It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. The country has suffered through a terrible crash in home prices, yet buying iffy in many markets.

The data comes from Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics and covers the second quarter of this year. Home prices haven’t changed very much since then, so I would expect ratios in most places to be quite close to the numbers you see here.

December 22, 2010, 11:01 am

Bank of Montreal Increases U.S. Presence

The Bank of Montreal is buying a Milwaukee-based bank, the latest example of Canadian banks using their muscle to snap up U.S. financial institutions battered by the economic crisis.

Canada's fourth-largest bank announced Friday that it was acquiring Marshall & Ilsley Corp. for $4.1 billion in stock, doubling its presence in the U.S. from 321 branches to 695.

Canadian banks, ranked the soundest in the world by the World Economic Forum, weathered the economic crises far better than their counterparts in other countries.