Pinellas County Real Estate Statistics for January 2013

The new year has started off with a bang in the real estate market. The fiscal cliff was resolved and homeowners got relief in many ways.

The real estate market has continued its steady climb price wise. And the inventory of homes has stayed steady. And the number of units selling each month is still climbing.

In real estate, we judge the market on two conditions: the absorption rate and months of inventory. The absorption rate is the percentage of the market that is sold vs what is still available on the market. The months of inventory is the calculation of if no new homes were added to the market, how many months would it take to sell what we have in stock.

We look at single family homes and condos individually. And with good reason.

January is typically a "slow" month in sales with the Holiday Season lag. But this January has been the best January in the past 4 years. In the single family homes, the buyer market bought up 22.7% of the inventory. In condos, the buyer market bought up 13.5% of the inventory.

The inventory we had at the end of January was only 2,891 single family homes, and 3,278 condos.

So right now, we have about 4 months worth of single family homes available. And little over 7 months of condos on the market.

The National Association of Realtors determines a "Buyers market" or "Sellers market" based on a simple formula. Under 3 months worth of inventory = a Seller's market. 3 to 6 months of inventory = Balanced Market/Transitioning Market. 6+ months of inventory = Buyers Market. Now this is generic for all of the entire county. More niche or neighborhood specific stats can show a completely different story.

So based on this qualifier, we are transitioning/balanced in the single family home market, and we are still in a buyers market with condominiums.

If you want to find out more on how your home is comparing to others, you can contact me directly through RebeccaTheRealtor@live.com or call 727-216-9253.