It has become more of a buyers’ market in many parts of Florida as home prices stay high and listings linger for months, data shows.
Florida was among the states that surged in popularity during the pandemic, with homebuilders staying busy with new construction. Now that some growth cooled, more homes exist on the market than there are people who want to buy them, especially because housing costs still are so high.
According to recent reports from the real-estate firm Redfin, among 49 of the United States’ most populated metropolitan areas, the strongest buyers’ market in February was in Miami, which had 163% more sellers than buyers.
West Palm Beach followed close behind with 110% more sellers than buyers. Tampa had 84% more. Orlando had 74% more. Jacksonville had 70% more.
In an analysis of home listings across the United States dating to 2012, Redfin found that more than 62% of home listings in Miami, and about 56% of home listings in West Palm Beach, were “stale.” Those are the listings that lingered on the market for more than two months.
Why has this happened? According to Redfin, the factors include:
— Homebuying demand has slowed.
— Home selling persists as people attempt to “cash in on still-high home values.”
— Home prices are rising.
Redfin noted how Florida developers have tended to build more homes than in other states while residents grapple “with intensifying natural disasters, soaring insurance premiums and rising condo (Homeowners Association) fees.”
According to the Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors, the median sale price of a single-family home in Palm Beach County in February was $675,000. This is an increase from last February, when the median sale price was $647,000.
This February in Broward, the median sale price of a single-family home was $620,000. Last February, it was $610,000.
Prices aren’t necessarily expected to fall, said Keyes Company Real Estate Advisor Carlos Alleyne, but “the longer the home sits, the more negotiating power shifts to the buyer.”
But buyers still are restrained by high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty caused by the U.S. geopolitics, Alleyne said.
“Buyers are a little bit more cautious, and sellers in turn must be precise when they’re finding that right pricing for their home,” he said.
South Florida’s housing market conditions are more normal now than they were a few years ago, Alleyne said, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
“Two, three years ago, things flew off the market, right? Everybody saw it,” he said. “But now it’s going back to what it used to be in the old days where it could take two, three, four months from the time you list to the time you close. So, that’s a little bit more normal.
“It’s funny how human psychology is, but we just feel like it’s all so terrible and slow, but this is really the normal pace of where things would be happening. So, this is kind of a normalizing, a rebalancing of the market.”