Florida Residents Struggling to Sell Their Homes

While Florida home prices are still rising faster than the national average, the state's housing market is starting to experience what experts call a "correction" after years of overheating as demand cools down and supply grows.

South Florida, where a majority of the state's aging condos are concentrated, is also struggling with the impact of a new building safety legislation passed in the aftermath of the deadly Surfside collapse of 2021, which requires condo associations to conduct regular inspections and reserve enough funds for necessary repairs and maintenance.

What To Know A recent boom in construction and the stabilization of mortgage rates over the past year, which has discouraged sellers from waiting any longer for monthly payments to go down, have contributed to create a surge in inventory in Florida, which has climbed back to pre-pandemic level.

According to Redfin data, inventory in the Sunshine State was up by 18.5 percent year-over-year in February, to a total of 224,921. While Florida, like the rest of the U.S, is going through a housing affordability crisis, a growth in inventory hasn't been met with enthusiasm from aspiring buyers pushed to the sidelines of the market in recent years.

A Market in Shift The experience of the anonymous homeowner is in line with Redfin analysis which found that homes for sale in Florida spent an average 75 days on the market in February, 13 more than they did a year before.

In cities across southwest Florida, sellers are increasingly slashing prices to attract reluctant buyers. In Cape Coral, 44.6 percent of homes on the market in February had price drops; in Fort Myers, 41.6 percent had price drops; in Punta Gorda, 39.6 percent; in Naples, 38.5 percent; and in Sarasota, 34.4 percent.

What's Next Most experts expect the Florida housing market to undergo a price correction this year, in what they describe as a natural cooling after years of overheating.

"New listings continue to rise due surging insurance and HOA fees. Meanwhile, demand is down due to a slowdown in people moving to the state. Prices are dropping in most counties," Nick Gerli, CEO of real estate platform Reventure App, previously told Newsweek. "Reventure App anticipates a -5.0 percent [year-on-year] drop statewide in 2025."

Even with the expected price drops, Florida home prices remain much higher than they have been for years before the start of the pandemic.