It’s not only the nice weather, beaches and theme parks that attract people to the Tampa Bay area; it’s also the availability of cheaper Tampa Bay homes. They are not also cheaper; they are also beautiful, and many are in waterfront areas, golf and conservation developments, and resort-like retirement communities.
The Tampa Bay’s median sales price for existing single-family homes — $138,000 — in last year’s third quarter was lower by 26% than the national median sales price and lower by 17% than the median price in the Southern States. It was also lower by 34% than the median price in Florida’s prime market, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach area.
Among Florida’s 12 major metropolitan markets, the Tampa Bay real estate market was fifth in single-family median sales price in last year’s third quarter.
| 1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach | $209,200 |
| 2. Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice | $171,700 |
| 3. Gainesville | $147,300 |
| 4. Tallahassee | $144,400 |
| 5. Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent | $140,900 |
| 6.Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | $138,000 |
| 7. Orlando | $135,400 |
| 8. Jacksonville | $131,900 |
| 9. Cape Coral-Fort Myers | $127,000 |
| 10. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | $119,400 |
| 11. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach | $111,100 |
| 12. Ocala | $80,900 (3Q 2011) |
The region’s median price is also significantly lower than any of the median prices in the 15 most expensive metropolitan real estate areas in the country. In the third quarter last year, these were the median sales prices in these 15 metro areas:
| 1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | $673,000 |
| 2. Honolulu | $627,200 |
| 3. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | $568,000 |
| 4. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine | $560,300 |
| 5. New York-Wayne-White Plains | $467,800 |
| 6. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island | $394,700 |
| 7. New York: Newark-Union | $389,400 |
| 8. New York: Nassau-Suffolk | $387,500 |
| 9. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos | $386,300 |
| 10. Boulder | $382,100 |
| 11. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy | $365,800 |
| 12. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | $362,300 |
| 13. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana | $355,700 |
| 14. New York-Edison | $343,700 |
| 15. Barnstable Town | $311,900 |
As seen in the above table, the Tampa Bay’s median sales price in last year’s third quarter was almost one-fifth of the country’s highest median sales price, $673,000, which was that of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area. It was 44 percent of the lowest median price in the table — $311,900 — which was that of Barnstable Town in Massachusetts.
For existing condos and co-ops, the median sales price in the Tampa Bay area in last year’s third quarter was $90,000, lower by 50.2% than the national median sales price and lower by 30.5% than the median in the Southern States. It was lower by 35.8% than the median price for pre-owned condos in the Sarasota area, which was $140,100, the highest existing condo and co-op median sales price in major metro areas in Florida.