Tampa housing market among the worst

The real estate market in the Tampa Bay area is among the worst in the nation, but recovery may be a little closer. Fourteen other markets fared worse, and Tampa appears to be near the bottom of home price depreciation, according to a report from California-based data company Clear Capital. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area ranked No. 15 in the lowest performing major markets in the second quarter, the company said. Although prices haven fallen recently, the year-over-year picture was better. Sales prices went down by 2.3 percent from the previous quarter but went up 1.6 percent from the same quarter last year. Twenty-three percent of the sales in the first quarter were bank-owned properties. Detroit was the worst-performing metro with a 10.7 percent decline from last quarter and 19.6 percent rise in prices from last year. Nearly 50 percent of the sales were homes taken back by lenders.

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Condo owners with bad drywall may get no tax break

Florida's condominium and townhome owners with tainted drywall may be excluded from tax relief promised in a new law. The Florida Department of Revenue said Wednesday that deep tax breaks only belong to owners of traditional homes. "The department doesn't think the law was meant to cover any structure other than detached, single family homes," said Robert Babin, legislative affairs director for the department. "There is a statutory provision that defines single-family differently than other types of homes." This comes after the governor's office said Monday that condos and townhomes would qualify for the help. The office has since said it made a mistake. The law, passed earlier this month, says owners of single-family homes who cannot live in their houses because of bad drywall won't have to pay a penny of property tax on the home's value. (The owner would still be responsible for taxes on the land.)

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Little Change Seen in Mortgage Rates This Week

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.75 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 17, 2010, up from last week when it averaged 4.72 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.38 percent.

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Florida Builders Are Going Smaller

Builders are snapping up cheap real estate in Florida, paying 40 percent to 60 percent less than they did during the housing boom. While a glut of foreclosed properties remains, builders are beginning to build new homes that are smaller than those built pre-boom, often positioned to compete against foreclosed properties. Because land is cheap, builders are able to make money selling homes as small as 1,800 square feet, built for about $150,000 and sold for $160,000 to $170,000, says Steve Fusilier, principal in Fusilier Realty Group in Orlando.

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Mortgage Rates Remain Historically Low

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.72 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 10, 2010, down from last week when it averaged 4.79 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.59 percent.

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