Tampa Bay's housing market is slower, not cheaper

Tampa Bay homes are steadily rising in value, Bob Glaser, president and CEO and Smith & Associates Real Estate, tells Axios.

What's happening: Tampa Bay has "some insulation to big drops," Glaser says. Even though the market is moving slower than last year, there are still more buyers than houses.

By the numbers:

• The median home sale price in Tampa Bay was $380,000 in March, up 1.9% year over year, per MLS data Smith & Associates shared with Axios.
• Homes sold in 49 days on average in March, compared to 17 days this time last year.
• Months supply of inventory is up 136.5% year over year, but it’s the lowest it's been since June 2022.

Why it matters: Two real estate markets are playing out across the country, with home prices falling in the West and rising in the East.

Zoom out: Generally, homebuyers are migrating eastward in search of a more affordable lifestyle, RE/MAX president and CEO Nick Bailey tells Axios.

Every market has been hot in recent years. Now, the market is rebalancing, with more volatility on the coasts.

• “There’s no such thing as a national real estate market,” Bailey says.
• Texas home prices have experienced much turbulence due to unprecedented amounts of people flocking to the Lone Star State, Bailey says.
• The D.C. area, Bailey says, is always a wild card. “There's never anything statistically normal about D.C. to forecast on.”

What we're watching: Inventory. The number of homes for sale would need to increase to 3-4 months supply for the market to truly balance out, Bailey says.