Happy New Year! We are excited about the prospects for 2010 in the Tampa residential housing market. While 2009 was an interesting year to say the least, we still believe we experienced the panic bottom of the Tampa Real Estate market in mid April. As 2009 continued prices fell at slower rates each consecutive month and market activity continued to progress. The initial first time home buyer tax credit certainly advanced individuals purchasing timelines and thus were reflective in stronger third/fourth quarter activity. Our outlook for Tampa Real Estate in 2010 is certainly more positive than 2009. We believe the first quarter of 2010 will show continued activity in large part to the extension of the home buyer tax credit, which is available until April 30, 2010. The main concern for 2010 are the unidentified foreclosures still in the pipeline as well as the reversal of historically low interest rates we had experienced throughout the year. Both of these items could potentially impact any positive momentum moving forward. In summary while we will not experience the robust growth of 2005/06 or the big drops in 2008/09 we do believe steady growth is in our future.
Cristan & Jennifer Fadal, Century 21 Fisher & Associates