Florida’s housing market reported increased for-sale inventory (active listings) in May and lower median closed sale prices compared to a year ago, according to Florida Realtors®’ latest housing data. Closed sales of existing single-family homes statewide in May totaled 24,756, down 5.7% year-over-year, while existing condo sales totaled only 8,345, down 19.9% over May 2024. The statewide median closed sale price for single-family existing homes last month was down 2.7% from the previous year, while it was down 6.1% for condo units.
Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor noted “there is a clear divergence from last year’s price levels starting to emerge. Still, prices remain in the neighborhood of where they’ve been since early 2022 and are 54% above where they were at this time in 2020. May’s year-over-year decline at the state level also masks some considerable variation at the local level, with the median price for single-family homes only falling in 13 of Florida’s 22 metropolitan areas.”
However, price erosion in the condo category began in July of last year, O’Connor said, a trend continuing in May. He pointed out that statewide median prices for condo units are “still 54% higher than in 2020 – the same difference observed for the single-family side of the market – but in the case of condos, there is more uniformity at the local level, with 19 of Florida’s 22 metros seeing a year-over-year price decline in May.” With for-sale inventory in Florida on the rise, some price weakness in both property categories is to be expected, according to O’Connor.
He added, “We’ve been chronicling the expansion of Florida’s inventory of homes for sale since early 2022. For more than a year, within both property type categories, inventory levels have been in excess of the levels that were typical of the period of housing market stability we experienced from 2014 through 2019. They remain well below the levels we were seeing in 2008 when we experienced a large price correction during the Great Financial Crisis, which is why right now we are only seeing some minor price erosion by comparison.”
On the supply side of the market, inventory (active listings) rose 28.8% year-over-year for both existing single-family homes and for existing condo properties compared to May 2024. While single-family existing homes were at a well balanced 5.6-months’ supply last month, condo units were at a 10.3-months’ supply, indicating a ‘buyers market’.