Florida’s housing market reported easing median sales prices, more new listings and improved inventory levels (active listings) in July 2024 compared to a year ago, according to Florida Realtors’ latest housing data.
“For-sale inventory continued to improve in July, which is helping to moderate prices – and hopefully will also ease housing affordability issues over time,” said 2024 Florida Realtors President Gia Arvin, broker-owner with Matchmaker Realty in Gainesville. “Mortgage interest rates also seem to be trending down off the near 7% highs, which boosts potential homebuyers’ purchase power and helps spark demand.”
Closed sales of existing single-family homes statewide totaled 23,353, up 5.2% year-over-year, while existing condo-townhouse sales totaled 8,364, down 1.2% over July 2023, according to data from Florida Realtors Research Department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. Closed sales may occur from 30- to 90-plus days after sales contracts are written.
Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor pointed out that, at the end of June, there was a sizeable amount of pending inventory, especially in the single-family home category, which could indicate that closed sales of existing single-family homes would rebound this month.
“And yes, that’s what happened,” he said. “The increase wasn’t enough to offset the decline in single-family closed sales in June, but it was still positive. And, while we came up a little bit short in the townhouse and condo category, July’s 1.2% year-over-year decline in closed sales there is far more preferable that what we saw the previous month.
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in July was $416,990, basically the same (up 0.5%) as a year ago, while the statewide median price for condo-townhouse units was $315,000, down 1.3% from July 2023. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.
“Over on the supply side of things, new listings of single-family homes remained in line with what we would have expected in the pre-pandemic market, but there were 10.7% more new listings this July compared to last year’s unusually low count,” O’Connor pointed out. “Meanwhile, 13.8% more townhouses and condos came onto the market in July compared to a year ago.
“The inventory of single-family homes continues to rise, but over the last three months, this growth has slowed as each month has passed. I’d caution, however, that this slowdown may be in part just a seasonal effect. Townhouse and condo inventory levels are now above where they were during the 2014 to 2019 pre-pandemic, post-Great Recession period. However, month-over-month inventory growth has flattened out over the past two to three months.”
On the supply side of the market, single-family existing homes were at a 4.6-months’ supply in July 2024, while condo-townhouse properties were at a 7.4-months’ supply.
