Tampa’s housing market stalls as Hurricane Milton approaches

The weather in Tampa on Tuesday morning could not have been better – temperatures in the low 80s and partly cloudy skies. But it won’t always be like that.

Hurricane Milton – currently a Category 4 hurricane – is scheduled to make landfall in Tampa late Wednesday or early Thursday. The intensity of the storm prompted officials to ask for evacuations, which has already had a major impact on the city’s housing market.

Data from Study of Altos shows that new listings and pending home sales have fallen off the cliff since the hurricane.

New listings in Tampa were at 775 on September 27, but fell to 555. Pending sales had a similar decline, from 741 to 561.

The low level of activity makes sense. People trying to get out of the path of a major hurricane are not overly concerned about putting their house on the market. Additionally, the storm prompted buyers and home insurers to take a break.

Tampa area agent Jeff Borham was eXp Realty he said that insurance policies have an impact. According to him, you cannot close the insurance when there is a hurricane, but if the insurance was closed before the storm was revealed, the home buyers can still close.

The trend is even more surprising considering that the Tampa market – which had fallen sharply last year – was starting to pick up steam.

“Two weekends ago, even after that [Hurricane] “Helena, my team had a very busy weekend,” said Borham. “Right now we don’t have any scheduled games because everyone is stressed because of the storm. People are moving. We are still fixing the boards, cleaning their house, preparing for the storm. There is currently zero activity. “

Borham said that in situations like this, his team changes from being real estate agents to being members of the community helping their neighbors weather the storm.

“You step up and become a leader, because if you’re a very productive Realtor, you know a lot of people and you have a lot of connections in the trade community and different things,” he said. “Our communication and leadership skills can really help after a natural disaster.”

Related