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Home prices methodology
by MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
To calculate home prices, The St. Petersburg Times analyzed more than 260,000 individual sales of individual parcels of property between January 1998 and July of 2003.
Only qualified sales were used to calculate price trends. A qualified sale, also known as an “arms length” transaction, is one that does not involve, for example, personal or business relationships between buyer and seller that might have influenced the sale price.
Property appraiser's offices in Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties used deed paperwork to eliminate unqualified sales, although county officials warned that a small number of unqualified sales may have been inadvertently included.
The Times then culled from the database all vacant land.
The Times also obtained electronic maps of each parcel in the five county area from the property appraisers. Then, a combination of neighborhood association, census and Times-created maps were overlayed on to the parcel maps.
For the analysis, the Times used median prices. A median, like an average, is a measure of the statistical center. But unlike an average, which can be skewed disproportionately by extreme prices, a median is the point where half the numbers are above, and half are below.
To see the difference, think of a street with 10 homes. Four homes are worth $100,000, four are worth $200,000 and two are worth $1 million. The average home price on that block is $320,000, far higher than the vast majority of houses on the street. The median is $200,000, because it is the value that falls in the middle.
Most studies of home prices use medians instead of averages to limit the impact of extremely low and extremely high dollar sales.
February 15, 2004
The cost of living here
By MATTHEW WAITE
As an investment over the past five years, you couldn't have done much better than bay area real estate, where values have skyrocketed.
Home sweet home no easy find
By BILL VARIAN,CARRIE JOHNSON and MATTHEW WAITE
Home buyers must take compromise to heart in the booming Tampa Bay area market. It turns out $150,000 doesn't go far as it used to.
South Pinellas
Neighborhood ripe for change a good gamble
By CURTIS KRUEGER
ST. PETERSBURG - Kathy Young spent $59,000 for a two-story, three-bedroom house because she liked its hardwood floors and its location in St. Petersburg's Historic Kenwood neighborhood just north of downtown.
Priced out of their markets
By CARRIE JOHNSON
ST. PETERSBURG: A steep jump in prices has left many in the working class with little chance at home ownership.
Appreciation with a caveat
By JON WILSON
The median value rose to $74,500 in Highland Oaks, although less when a dozen new homes are removed from the picture.
In Seminole, real cows to cash cows
By MARY JANE PARK
A city that has doubled in land and population since 2000 bids adieu to the under-$100,000 abode.
Roots aplenty in Driftwood
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Dream of joining this weirdly wonderful 49-home burg? Unless you're a bat, you're probably in for a wait.
The elusive starter home
By ANNE LINDBERG
Many buyers who are almost squeezed out of the market look for a find in Pinellas Park, Lealman and Kenneth City.
What $100K feels like
By SHARON L. BOND
Gateway and Euclid Heights aren't highfalutin, and that's just fine with longtime residents and younger newcomers.
Brisk sales at land's end
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Greater Pinellas Point has been a buyer's, and seller's, market. Residents and Realtors say perks include more bang for the buck and a harmonic vibe. Must be something in the saltwater
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Beach real estate has gone bonkers, as evidenced by cottages for not-so-quaint prices, a stream of million-dollar condos and the sought-after teardown.
Turnover central
By DONNA WINCHESTER and JON WILSON
Disston Heights and Central Oak Park, high, dry and affordable, have been a real estate broker's dream come true.
Modest gains in Childs Park
By JON WILSON
Home prices inch up and contracts stack up in a neighborhood where a third of the residents live in poverty.
Now that's rich
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE and DONNA WINCHESTER
Million-dollar teardowns and a tsunami of appreciation: Bayshore? Boca? No, St. Petersburg, on the waterfront.
NorthPinellas
February 15, 2004
Older, smaller homes have plenty of takers
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
One real estate broker discovers that affordable inland homes are quietly becoming top sellers.
This home hasn't changed very much - but the price sure has
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Frequent turnover is the key at 50 Acacia St. on Clearwater Beach.
Through the roof
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
That's where home prices have gone in the past five years.
Retiring baby boomers fuel waterfront boom
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Tiny Crystal Beach used to be sleepy, beachy. Now an influx of newcomers is changing its feel.
Hillsborough
Work, wait and equity can just happen
By BILL VARIAN
TAMPA - Bruce Van Wert shakes his head when he contemplates what has been happening up and down his street in Seminole Heights.
Priced out of their markets
By RON MATUS
SOUTH TAMPA: Modest, middle class homes are disappearing under a tide of well-to-do newcomers.
Old Florida features grace new houses
By JANET ZINK
In the suburbs, home buyers can get traditional touches with new-home efficiency and bargain prices.
Suburbs going condo
By JAMES THORNER
For a lot of people, a townhome is the only starter home within reach
These new houses celebrate old styles
By JANET ZINK
Some builders aim for more traditional designs like bungalows and homes with front porches or the "Hyde Park look."
New homes offer old style
By JANET ZINK
Builders are designing homes that combine Old Florida style with modern efficiency.
Pasco
February 15, 2004
Buying into Pasco's bargains
By JAMES THORNER
Homeowners are yielding large gains, but prices are still more affordable than in some nearby counties.
Hernando
February 15, 2004
Hernando's hidden secret
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
A nationwide demand for waterfront property and the opening of the Suncoast Parkway bring more buyers to Hernando Beach, which doesn't have a beach but is laced with man-made canals.
Wise buyers 'lucky,' content with beachfront home
By ROBERT KING
Even though property prices have skyrocketed in Hernando Beach, they are still some of the most affordable.
Citrus
February 15, 2004
Going up: land values
By AMY WIMMER SCHWARB
Real estate prices continue to rise, particularly for homes on the water or a golf course or those with several acres.
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