The latest entry into the “Re-Busting” lineup is Tampa where “buyers” in the spring of 2009 must have surly thought the worst was over.Home prices had dropped 40% (as seen by the Radar Logic daily data), the government was stepping in with unprecedented stimulus efforts and the panic on Wall Street and Main Street appeared to have been easing.
Realtors urged on buying with “countdown clocks” that tracked the number of day and even minutes left to advantage of the “home buyer” tax gimmick and the Feds simultaneously worked to hold down mortgage rates.
Tampa residents jumped… sales increased and prices followed for the best rally seen in three years.
But by mid-summer the bounce topped out and prices started to fall again.
Even the first expiration of the first time home buyer tax freebie barely registered as prices continued to slide downhill throughout the fall and on into winter.
Today, prices are down some 44.25% from the peak set in 2006 and continue to fall at a good clip dropping 8.73% on a year-over-year basis.
Is another rally upon us with the second tax credit expiration?
Probably, but in all likelihood we will only see a more feeble repeat of the sorry state of affairs witnessed last year.
