Florida’s Housing Market Is Out of Sync With Rest of US

Florida is leading the rise in active property listings across the country, according to the latest data from real-estate services firm Redfin, with the total supply of homes for sale in places like Cape Coral climbing more than 75 times faster than the national average between January and February.

Active listings—the total supply of homes for sale, including new builds or previously existing homes—have grown by 0.8 percent month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis in February in the U.S., hitting the highest level in a year, according to Redfin, at 1,601,260. Compared to a year before, they were down by a modest 0.1 percent, the smallest annual decline in months.

At the same time, the number of new listings climbed by 3.8 percent at the national level in February compared to a month before—the biggest increase in six months and the highest level since September 2022. They were up 14.8 percent year-on-year, for the largest annual gain since May 2021. This is all good news for aspiring homebuyers who have been struggling with skyrocketing prices in the past few years, driven by high demand and a historic supply shortage.

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In the Sunshine State, active listings have grown much faster than in the rest of the country in recent months—causing a drop in prices that hasn’t been met with an equivalent growth in sales as of yet. Journalist Lance Lambert wrote for ResiClub that active listings in Florida were up 45.8 percent in February compared to a year before.

Cape Coral saw the fastest increase in active listings in the entire country from January to February, with the number of total homes for sale climbing by a staggering 60.6 percent. In North Port they jumped by 52.5 percent and in Fort Lauderdale by 25.5 percent.

By comparison, the metro areas that saw the steepest declines were Raleigh, North Carolina (-24.4 percent); New Brunswick, New Jersey (-19 percent); Nassau County, New York (-18.5 percent).

Florida, one of the states which has built more homes in the country together with Texas, has seen the highest increase in active listings in the U.S., according to Redfin. The listing of condos for sale is particularly driving this jump in supply, as owners try to escape rising Homeowner Association (HOA) fees and insurance costs.

While national demand fell modestly between late summer 2022 and spring 2023 as mortgage rates climbed in reaction to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hiking campaign to combat inflation, home prices across the country have remained high due to the lack of properties for sale. As of February 2024, the median price of a home in the U.S. was $412,778, up 6.6 percent compared to the previous year, according to Redfin.

According to Redfin, there were 182,729 homes for sale in Florida in February, up 25.9 percent compared to the year before. Some 49,317 of these properties were newly listed, up 26 percent year-over-year. The median listing price of these homes was $407,500, up 4.4 percent compared to February 2023 and slightly lower than the national average.

The flooding of homes, especially condos, in Florida has caused prices to drop significantly. According to a Redfin report published in late February, sales of condos in Florida fell significantly in January, even as listings jumped and prices fell.

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Florida is currently going against a national trend which has seen condo prices increase by an average 8.4 percent year-on-year in the U.S. in January, according to Redfin. Within this same period, some of Florida’s major metros saw a significant drop, with Miami reporting a 2.5 percent fall and Jacksonville a 6.5 percent decline.

“Whenever prices fall, it’s a reflection of a changing market,” Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist, told Newsweek in a written statement.

“Rising HOA fees and insurance costs have made owning a condo less affordable, so buyers don’t want to pay as much for them,” she said.” Eventually prices will hit a point where buyers do think Florida condos are good value. But if insurance and other costs keep rising, prices may keep falling.”