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Home Resales Rebound In Pasco Past Two Months

By Carl Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: April 15, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – The door seems to be opening again on resales of existing Pasco County homes, the president of West Pasco Board of Realtors, Greg Armstrong, believes.

The past two months have rebounded with hefty increases in the number of resales, Armstrong said. The local Realtors group tracks sales west of the Suncoast Parkway.

That's the first time in 21 months that sales notched back-to-back monthly increases, he emphasized.

The number of re-sales in March totaled 280, up nearly 27 percent over February's 221. January's sales figure had come in at 180.

"We're the only county in the (Tampa) Bay area with an increase," Armstrong trumpeted. Neighboring counties are still showing decreases in sales of existing homes.
Armstrong is cautiously optimistic that the trends bear out the predictions of one oft-quoted Florida economist, Henry "Hank" Fishkind.

The owner of Fishkind & Associates, a 26-member Orlando-area economic and financial consulting firm, Fishkind visited the Suncoast a few months ago. At that time, Fishkind said he believed the Pasco County resale market had already bottomed out.

All of a sudden people seem to be moving to Pasco County again, Armstrong said.

For instance, Armstrong said he knew of only one sale all last year in the Heritage Lake community, along Little Road south of Trouble Creek Road. In three months so far this year, he's aware of close to 20 sales in Heritage Lake.

"The numbers began to change almost instantly after the passage of Amendment 1 on Jan. 29," Armstrong added about the state property tax law changes approved by voters. "That is when the phones began to ring."

Prices have come down enough to make Pasco homes a relative bargain, Armstrong believes. Pasco also has fewer condos, which are a "real drag on the market" right now.

"If the improvement continues in the sales volume at the pace we are going right now we will be beating last year by late summer," Armstrong said.

Fishkind also had predicted Pasco might attract more industry in the future, which would draw more workers, Armstrong noted.

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