Real Estate Experts in Tampa Talking Interest Rates, Tariffs, and Extreme Weather

According to the Tampa Bay Times, experts in the local real estate market are looking at trade wars, interest rates, and extreme weather to predict where things are heading in the new year. The sources include a Tampa Bay home builder, a top executive with ATTOM Data Solutions, a bank VP and a Tampa appraiser. "I see Tampa Bay shaping up similar to what we're seeing in many markets, which is a cooling trend in 2019 with the rate of price appreciation slowing down," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president of ATTOM Data Solutions,

"The Tampa Bay market is still outperforming the national market and many others similarly sized including Phoenix, Charlotte, Austin and Nashville but we're still seeing that trend toward slowing appreciation, which I think is a good thing. We were seeing unsustainable price growth over the last six years, and if it continued we'd be talking about, ‘Are we in another housing bubble?’ What really stands out is not just the price increase but that the increase in wages has not kept up. (Since 2012, home prices have risen 120 percent in Hillsborough County while wages are up 9 percent. In Pinellas, prices are up 110 percent versus 10 percent for wages.)"

"There is no getting around this fundamental shortage of shelter at almost all prices. Land is expensive, land development costs are expensive, subcontractors are more expensive. Buildable lots are decreasing, things like flood plain and wetlands preservation take up a lot more land than is commonly considered. We have been affected a little bit by the Canadian lumber tariffs, but the China tariffs could make sourcing certain items more expensive such as lighting and countertops.''

"What sells is what's showing on the Internet. People go to realtor.com and they see that interior that looks like what they see on TV. Those that have the HGTV look, the look that Joanna Gaines does with the grays, the whites, the (white-ish) Carrara marble. She's brilliant. (Light gray) goes with different fabrics, it changes color depending on if you're on the water or not. It's the trend now, it has been the last four or five years, and I think it's going to continue. The beiges and yellows and gold colors are gone.''