{"id":57096,"date":"2025-11-22T23:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/57096\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T23:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:29:07","slug":"florida-metros-top-the-list-as-housing-markets-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/57096\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida metros top the list as housing markets cool"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the weather cools<\/a> heading into late fall, so does the US housing market, with\u00a0Florida<\/a>\u00a0leading the nation in metros<\/a> experiencing the steepest\u00a0home price<\/a>\u00a0declines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent\u00a0report from real estate analytics firm Cotality<\/a>\u00a0revealed that of the 10 coolest markets in the US among the 100 largest metros, seven were in Florida<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cape Coral, FL<\/a>, a city of 32,000 renowned for its scenic canals, stood out for recording Florida\u2019s largest year-over-year drop in home prices in September\u2014and the second-highest overall, behind\u00a0Champaign, IL<\/a>\u2014falling 7.1%.<\/p>\n

Next on the list was\u00a0Naples, FL<\/a>, where home prices fell 6.7%, followed by\u00a0Punta Gorda, FL<\/a>\u00a0(-6.2%),\u00a0Sebring, FL<\/a>\u00a0(-5.2%),\u00a0North Port, FL<\/a>\u00a0(-5.1%),\u00a0Brownsville, FL<\/a>\u00a0(-4.8%), and\u00a0Sebastian, FL<\/a>, which rounded out the top 10 with a 4.6% decline. <\/p>\n

Notably,\u00a0Wichita Falls, TX<\/a>, and\u00a0Kahului, HI<\/a>, ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese towns are largely retirement and second-home places, so there is not much business or industry coming into these areas outside of tourism that generates jobs and keeps the economy going, so wages are lower and you don\u2019t have people relocating to this area for jobs, hence less demand for buying as well as renting,\u201d\u00a0Cara Ameer, real estate broker at\u00a0Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty<\/a>\u00a0in Florida, tells\u00a0Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this creates a perfect storm for a decline in property values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home prices in Champaign, Illinois dropped by 7.1%. Joseph Hendrickson \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

In August, the typical single-family home in hard-hit Cape Coral sold for $350,000, down nearly 7% from the previous year, according to the latest available data analyzed by Realtor.com researchers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Compared with August 2022 during the pandemic boom era, when\u00a0mortgage interest rates<\/a>\u00a0were near historic lows and demand surged, the median home sales price in Cape Coral has dropped by more than 13%. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the typical home in North Port sold in August 2025 for 20% less than three years ago.<\/p>\n

Cape Coral continues to struggle<\/p>\n

A mix of national and local factors has been fueling Cape Coral\u2019s downward trend, as rising home financing, higher insurance premiums, and increasing foreclosure rates curbed buyer interest.<\/p>\n

Rising home financing, higher insurance premiums, and increasing foreclosure rates have curbed buyer interest in Cape Coral, Florida. sky_diez \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s location on the Gulf Coast leaves it vulnerable to hurricane damage and flooding, making it both more difficult and more expensive to secure home insurance.<\/p>\n

In fact, Cape Coral has the nation\u2019s third-highest\u00a0premium-to-market ratio<\/a>\u00a0of 2.2%. <\/p>\n

This metric measures how much a homeowner<\/a> is paying in insurance premiums each year relative to the market value<\/a> of their home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida\u00a0is leading the country in metros experiencing the steepest\u00a0home price\u00a0declines.\u00a0 Felix Mizioznikov \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

For example the owner of a $350,000 home in Cape Coral would have to set aside $7,700 to cover their annual insurance premium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Ameer says that although Florida does not have a state income tax, the savings are usually not significant enough for lower-income residents to offset the rising costs associated with owning property in these coastal areas plagued by surging insurance costs, and higher HOA and condo fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida is starting to become lopsided in property values as a result of these kinds of shifts,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Separately, Cape Coral earned the dubious distinction of having the third-highest foreclosure rate among 225 metros with a population of all least 200,000, according to the\u00a0Q3 2025 report<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0ATTOM<\/a>, a curator of land, property, and\u00a0real estate data.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Karen Borrelli, president of\u00a0Royal Palm Coast Realtor\u00a0Association<\/a>\u00a0and agent at John R. Wood Christie\u2019s International Real Estate, tells Realtor.com that while the number of foreclosures and short sales in Cape Coral are up compared with last year, the data does not suggest that there is \u201ca disaster looming in front of us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Cape Coral\u2019s location on the Gulf Coast leaves it vulnerable to hurricane damage and flooding, making it both more difficult and more expensive to secure home insurance. Info Creates \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

But these metrics do not capture the full picture when it comes to Florida\u2019s distressed markets like Cape Coral, North Port, and Naples. Experts and real estate agents agree that a key factor putting downward pressure on prices in those metros is overcorrection from the overheated pandemic years.<\/p>\n

\u201cRapid price growth, combined with increasingly costly and difficult-to-obtain insurance, and rising mortgage rates, pushed many would-be buyers out of these Florida markets,\u201d says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst\u00a0Hannah Jones. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs affordability deteriorated, demand weakened and prices began to correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, as Borrelli puts it, the market \u201cwent up too high, too fast,\u201d leaving many buyers priced out, and it will take time before they return in full force.<\/p>\n

Prices in many Florida markets have been easing year over year since 2022, signaling that they are undergoing what Jones calls \u201crebalancing\u201d as sellers search for a price point that draws buyers back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis correction is likely to continue until demand strengthens enough to stabilize prices,\u201d adds the analyst.<\/p>\n

Prices in many Florida markets have been easing each year since 2022. Ray Dukin \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Borrelli points out that the cooling observed in Cape Coral\u2019s housing market is limited to home prices, not the number of sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe buyers are still coming here,\u201d she says.\u2029\u201dThey\u2019re still purchasing. Our sales are still continuing at almost the same rate year over year. What\u2019s cooled is the pricing. And now that the pricing is more affordable, it seems to attract just as many buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borrelli adds: \u201cIt\u2019s actually probably a really good time to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for sellers in Cape Coral, the agent says they still have \u201cunrealistic\u201d pricing expectations harking back to the red-hot COVID years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so those houses tend to sit because the buyers are looking for value,\u201d says Borrelli. \u201cThey know a house that\u2019s priced well from an overpriced home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sellers across Florida have responded in different ways to sluggish buyer interest: Some are offering concessions, while others\u2014particularly in Miami<\/a>\u2014are choosing to delist and wait for better market conditions.<\/p>\n

In the spring, about\u00a0a third of all for-sale homes in North Port<\/a>, identified by Cotality as the nation\u2019s sixth-coolest market, came with a price cut. Cape Coral was close behind with 28% of listings.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Borrelli says she believe the fundamentals of the local housing market remain strong and the pricing will ultimately find its footing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re getting to a point where the value is there for our houses, and people are seeing that value,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd as long as that remains, I see prices being steady.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the weather cools heading into late fall, so does the US housing market, with\u00a0Florida\u00a0leading the nation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,1644,11566,480],"class_list":{"0":"post-57096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-news","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-prices","13":"tag-real-estate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}