TAMPA, Fla. — The S&P Case-Shiller home price index for February gave empirical data to residents and would-be residents of the Tampa Bay area, home prices have exploded in the area over the last year.
According to the index, the Tampa area showed a 32.6% increase in year-over-year home prices in February. Phoenix hit 32.9% to lead the nation. No other metropolitan area in the country saw price growth above 30 percent in February, though Miami came close at 29.7%.
Tampa far outpaced the top 20 composite home price growth in February, which showed an increase of 20.2%. The national home price index showed a year-over-year increase of 19.8% in February.
While the overall numbers show homes remain out of reach for most residents in the Tampa Bay area, there may be some good news coming on the horizon thanks to recent interest rate increases.
“The macroeconomic environment is evolving rapidly and may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer," said Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI. "The post-COVID resumption of general economic activity has stoked inflation, and the Federal Reserve has begun to increase interest rates in response. We may soon begin to see the impact of increasing mortgage rates on home prices.”
