2017 was an interesting year for the Tampa Bay real estate market. Average home prices kept climbing substantially, the continuing lack of inventory lead to a very strong seller's market, and down payment assistance problems helped many first-time buyers get in to homes they otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. December capped the year with a strong month in both number of sales and home prices. The total number of home sales combined in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties in December was 6,586, only a 0.6% increase year-over-year compared to December 2016, but up 5.2% month-over-month from November 2017. Hillsborough had a total of 2,822 sales, Pasco had 1,364, and Pinellas h