Downtown Tampa/Channelside “The guy who has a rich uncle (Vinik) who has taken him under his wing to polish up his look and succeed in life. Really into building shit and shows off his work.” – SpeedBoatSquirrel Credit: Photo via Adobe Images

Available housing in the Tampa Bay has plummeted by 46.6%, setting a new low for the area, a new analysis says.

The analysis was part of real estate company Zillow’s latest monthly report for December. The company, which was founded in 2004, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the housing inventory is “the lowest ever observed by Zillow” in the Tampa area.

Data sent to CL by Zillow shows that the company recorded only 10,938 unique home listings for sale in the Tampa area in December 2021, as opposed to 19,660 in January 2018.

Tampa Bay’s decline in housing inventory stands out above the national decline in housing supply, which saw an average drop of 40.5% during the past two years, reaching a new record.

“Available housing inventory in the U.S. has reached a record low – now down 40.5% in the past two years – as anxious buyers kicked off the home shopping season early, according to Zillow’s latest monthly report for December,” Zillow wrote in a press release. “Although the scales of the market tipped further in sellers’ favor, a hesitancy to join the market as a buyer or uncertainty surrounding rising coronavirus cases could be discouraging homeowners from listing.” Zillow said that historically short supply met with high demand, causing monthly home price appreciation to accelerate for the first time since July and raising the typical U.S. home value to $320,662, a record 19.6% above last year.

In Tampa Bay, the typical home value is $327,618, up 29.7% over last year and up 1.7% from November. Listings typically spend seven days on the market before they switch to pending purchase, Zillow said.

As housing supply dries up, typical rent in Tampa Bay has skyrocketed to $1,985—up 28.6% since last year—the second-highest rent increase behind Miami.