Local April 2022 sales and trend information courtesy of The Crawford Group.
Which narrative do you ascribe too… Real Estate Bubble or Supply-Demand Economics? The mainstream media prey on the emotions of people to direct their story line. The naysayers typically select an event, drop in the stock market, Russian/Ukraine or something else which doesn’t have a direct causation effect to the housing market. I err on the side of the economics model. As these words are penned together, the latest CPI numbers haven’t been released yet. Many economists believe that last month’s CPI numbers had peaked, meaning that many of the supply constraints are stabilizing.
Why bring up the CPI numbers? It’s all relative to the consumer’s purchasing power in the individual supply-demand models. When you have more buyers for the available supply, prices go up, when buyers slow purchases due to perceived value or desired need, the supply tends to increase, or prices will stabilize. The FED has initiated rate increases to slow the economy, which in turn triggers mortgage rates to rise, that leads to slowing down purchases, which is what the FED wanted to happen, but it doesn’t materialize overnight.
What does the future in real estate look like? Low housing inventory levels are here for the next six to 12 months. Buyer’s mortgage expenses are on the rise which leads to less buying power. This may start to negate the Seller’s upper hand in pricing models. The need for professional representation is more indispensable now than ever before. As for the Bubble theory, our real estate market is on very stable ground, slight corrections will ensue, but a major reversal in valuations – crash, is very unlikely.
As we look at the Plant City housing data, we just completed the fourth month of the year, April, 2022. Our market area saw 92 homes sold this month, a decline from the previous month with 105 homes sold. The average selling price per square foot was $198.95, that’s a 3.1 percent increase over last month. The average selling price was $355,732 or a 0.8 percent increase over last month.
The active inventory was skewed last month largely due to one seller’s portfolio of properties being listed simultaneous. The active inventory supply jumped from 0.73 to 1.09 month’s supply, but we are a long way from the normalcy of three to six month’s supply.
While comparing the median prices month over month data, April finished with a median sales price of $333,500 which was a slight decline of 0.7 percent from March and a 3.5 percent increase over the 2022 year-to-date average. Will the real estate values continue to rise? Yes, more likely than not at slower rising percentage rates. There are many fundamentals that influence the potential power of the consumer. Over the next few months, we shall see how these fundamentals adjust to the different circumstances, CPI numbers, mortgage rates, etc. as we enter the primarily housing selling season.
As always, if you are in the market to buy or sell your home… seek out an experienced professional realtor to assist you in this transaction process. There are too many pitfalls to go it alone without representation. If you have any questions, please reach out.
M Crawford
Crawford Group
Sales Snapshot
The following residential properties were a sample listed as sold on the Greater Tampa Realtors Association MLS in Apr 2022 for the Plant City Market Area.
The home at 2602 Jim Johnson sold Apr 8 for $160,000. Built in 1959, it has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and 1286 square feet of living area.
The home at 703 W Cherry St sold Apr 8 for $215,000. Built in 1953, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and 1398 square feet of living area.
The home at 2817 Lawrence Rd sold Apr 11 for $230,000. Built in 2006, it has 4 bedrooms, 2 bath and 1674 square feet of living area.
The home at 123 Alexander Woods Dr sold Apr 28 for $245,000. Built in 2018 it has 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bath and 1466 square feet of living area.
The home at 908 E Gilchrist St sold Apr 15 for $260,000. Built in 1911, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and 1633 square feet of living area.
The home at 706 N Vermont St sold Apr 18 for $300,000. Built in 1950, it has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1432 square feet of living area.
The home at 1417 Sandal Wood Dr sold Apr 29 for $315,000. Built in 1979, it has 4 bedrooms, 3 bath and 1915 square feet of living area.
The home at 1441 Walden Oaks PL sold Apr 7 for $320,000. Built in 1987, it has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1305 square feet of living area.
The home at 3407 Pearl Dove Ln sold Apr 4 for $332,000. Built in 2007, it has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1754 square feet of living area.
The home 3110 Emerson Pl sold Apr 29for $350,000. Built in 1992, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1635 square feet of living area.
The home at 912 Roux St sold Apr 14 for $375,000. Built in 1909, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1850 square feet of living area.
The home at 4115 Barret Ave sold Apr 14 for $430,000. Built in 1989, it has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and 2015 square feet of living area.
The home at 2605 Holly Bluff Ct sold Apr 1 for $453,000. Built in 2012, it has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 2748 square feet of living area.
The home at 4916 Booth Rd sold Apr 1 for $470,000. Built in 1932, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 2370 square feet of living area.
The home at 606 W Reynolds St sold Apr 14 for $506,000. Built in 1904, it has 5 bedrooms, 3 baths and 2932 square feet of living area.
The home at 3629 Smith Ryals Rd sold Apr 29 for $625,000. Built in 1987, it has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath and 2465 square feet of living area.
The home at 3706 Heathcoe Rd sold Apr 20 for $720,000. Built in 1955, it has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 2808 square feet of living area.
