Home prices in the Tampa, Florida, region are on an extended slide as more listings hit the market and a new statewide condo safety law causes concern among existing owners and prospective buyers.
The median sale price for all property types in July was $379,990, down 0.1% from July 2024, Homes.com data shows. It was the fourth consecutive annual decline, and Tampa was one of 11 markets among the nation's 40 largest to experience price drops last month.
For condominiums only, July marked the 12th straight month of price declines across the Tampa metropolitan area, with the median price dropping to $210,000, off nearly 25% from September 2023, according to Homes.com.
Meanwhile, listings of single-family homes, townhouses and condos grew to more than 22,000 in July, up 18% from one year ago. The Homes.com data covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.
"More inventory, not as much competition from out-of-state buyers, and homes sitting on the market for longer have created an environment where buyers have more leverage to negotiate," said Michelle Rumore, senior director of market analytics at Homes.com, in a statement.
Some Tampa-area sellers are reluctant to acknowledge the market shift and that buyers have more leverage, said John Duffy, an agent with Charles Rutenberg Realty in the Pinellas city of Clearwater.
Some sellers insist on overpricing their homes, despite what the data shows, according to Duffy.
"I tell them, 'If it doesn't sell, we'll have to have a little chat again,' and we do," he told Homes.com. "The longer it sits there, it doesn't look good on paper. Right away, buyers think something's wrong with it. But when they lower the price, it sells."
Buyers dig in for deals
Buyers, on the other hand, are digging in and pushing for better deals, said Adam Grenville, co-president of the Suncoast Tampa Association of Realtors.
"Buyers are not paying attention to the list price, and that's creating a logjam," said Grenville, an agent with ReMax Premier Group in Lutz, Florida.
The new condo safety law that took effect July 1 has hung over the Sunshine State's condo market for more than a year, particularly in heavily populated coastal areas such as Tampa and Miami, analysts say.
The law, enacted in response to the 2021 collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, requires associations in older buildings to complete inspections and finance reserves for repairs. Analysts expect it to alter sales volumes and prices in South Florida and across the state.
Some owners who can't afford their share of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in building repair costs are putting their units up for sale, and that's contributing to the large number of listings. Unrelated to the new law, rising homeowner association dues also are a drag on the condo market, industry observers say.
The only way to entice buyers in some buildings is to lower prices, according to analysts and agents.
"The potential for a big assessment is pretty real," Grenville said.
