Data analyzed by Redfin revealed that from July to September this year investors bought homes in Tampa Bay at a record rate.
During those three months, one in four homes sold had an investor as a buyer, for a gross total of about 5,000 properties.
Tampa Bay’s share of investor purchases was even higher than the record national average of 18%, ranking it as the seventh hottest metropolitan area for investors nationwide.
No other state besides Florida had more than one city in the top 10. The Sunshine State had four, with Jacksonville in fourth place, Miami in fifth and Orlando in eighth place .
That high concentration of investors has made things difficult for regular home buyers using mortgages, who are easily outmatched by companies that pay all in cash, often at a higher price than the sale price.
There was about a 20% growth in home prices in Tampa last year. Investors began to become bigger players in the real estate market after the real estate crisis that triggered the Great Recession.
But recent increases in home prices and rental rates, plus the volatility of the stock market during the pandemic, have made investing in residential real estate even more attractive.
Even as Tampa Bay prices have skyrocketed, they are still relatively cheap for people hailing from high-cost cities in New York and California.
Some Tampa Bay zip codes are particularly attractive to investors, according to Redfin’s analysis. St. Petersburg’s 33712 ranked first with a whopping 37% of its third-quarter purchases coming from investors. Number 2 was 33570 in Ruskin with 35%, and Ybor City’s 33605 zip code was third with 34%.
