Florida Housing Market Stung As Multiple Cities See Prices Slashed

Eight of the top ten cities across the country where homes are selling for the most below the asking price, according to a recent analysis, are in Florida, where inventory is growing and buyers can afford to be a little more picky.

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The Florida cities of Naples, West Palm Beach, Punta Gorda, Miami, Sebastian, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral and North Port all featured within the top ten cities where sellers have had to accept the biggest price cuts to offload their properties, according to Redfin data analyzed by news organization Stacker. Newsweek contacted Redfin for comment by email on Wednesday morning.

That’s likely because the Sunshine State is currently one of those places in the U.S. where “buyers are starting to have the upper hand,” as Stacker writes, despite stubbornly high mortgage rates, which are still hovering around the 7 percent mark, and prices which aren’t generally much lower than their pandemic peaks.

Even as Florida remains among the most overpriced housing markets in the country after the boom experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in cities like Cape Coral and Miami, a recent surge in inventory has allowed buyers to push prices down in parts of the state.

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In Naples, Florida, homes were selling for an average price difference of 4.8 percent below the listed price in May—the biggest share in the entire nation. The median list price of a home in the city perched on the Gulf of Mexico was $675,000 in the same month; the median sale price was higher at $699,000. Around 4 percent of homes still sold above the listed price.

In West Palm Beach, Florida, where the median list price of a home was $519,000 and the median sale price was a slightly more modest $515,000, properties were selling for an average price difference of 4.51 percent of homes. Only 8.1 percent of homes sold above the listed price.

In Punta Gorda, Florida, the average price difference between what a home was listed for and how much a buyer paid was 4.14 percent. The median list price of a home was lower than the previous two cities, at $379,800, while the median sale price was lower, at $350,000.

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A listing of Florida cities is interrupted by College Station, Texas, which takes the number four spot in the list of markets where sellers are accepting the biggest cuts, with an average price difference of 3.98 percent below the listed price.

Miami, Florida, was fifth (for an average price difference of 3.82 percent below list), followed by Sebastian, Florida (3.8 percent), Fort Lauderdale, Florida (3.72 percent), New Orleans, Louisiana (3.72 percent), Cape Coral, Florida (3.6 percent), and North Port, Florida (3.54 percent).

Of these cities, Miami still had the highest median list price, $599,000, while median sale price was $540,000 in May. Just 12.2 percent of homes sold above listed price.

The median list price of a home in Sebastian was $408,000, while the median sale price was $397,450. Only 5.1 percent of homes sold above listed price. In Fort Lauderdale, the median list price of a home was $462,498, while the median sale price was $460,000. Just 11.3 percent of homes sold above the listed price.

In Cape Coral, the median list price of a home was $415,000, while the median sale price was $399,900. Only 8.6 percent of homes sold above listed price. Finally, in North Port, the median list price of a home was $473,475 and the median sale price was a slightly more modest $458,250.

These price cuts are part of a bigger picture: according to Federal Reserve Economic Data, the median listing price of a home in Florida was $450,000 in June, down from $478,500 a year earlier and the lowest value for a home in the Sunshine State in more than two years.

Experts like Nick Gerli, CEO and Founder of real estate analytics firm Reventure Consulting, are expecting the Florida housing market to enter a downturn as inventory increases. Growing supply, he wrote on X last month, it’s “the sign of a major selloff. And indicates prices are likely to drop in H2 2024.”