Florida’s housing market continued to show strong gains in the second quarter, with solid annual gains in closed sales, rising median prices and new listings, according to the latest housing data from Florida Realtors.
Florida usually has a very strong spring homebuying season, but due to the pandemic, 2020 was a major exception to the rule, Florida Realtors chief economist Brad O’Connor said in a release. “This year, though, we were back in business — and then some. Second quarter closed sales of existing single-family homes increased by 43.3% year-over-year to 98,414 and were up nearly 16% compared to the second quarter of 2019. Sales growth in the condo and townhouse resale market was even stronger, rising 117% to a total of 48,976 sales compared to 2020 and up by almost 44% compared to two years ago.”
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in the second quarter was $345,000, up 24.3% from the same time a year ago. The statewide median price for condo or townhouse properties during the quarter was $250,000, up 20.8% over the year-ago figure.
“Florida home prices always tend to rise the most during the first half of the year, but even taking that into consideration, price growth this year has still been well in excess of recent norms,” said O’Connor. “Falling mortgage rates last year allowed buyers to make bids on higher-priced homes. The competition this created among buyers is what’s driven prices up so much.”
According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.0% in the second quarter, down from the 3.23% rate recorded during the same quarter a year earlier.
However, so far this year, mortgage rates, while still low, are no longer falling, O’Conner said. “This will have the gradual effect of pricing more prospective buyers out of the market, which will reduce the level of competition until price growth falls back to a more normal pace,” he said. “This transition will also be aided by recent increases in the number of homes being listed for resale. New listings of single-family homes in the second quarter were up 24.2% versus a year ago and over 8% compared to 2019. In the condo and townhouse category, new listings were up 27% compared to 2020 and over 15% compared to 2019.”
In the second quarter, the median time to a contract was nine days for single-family homes and 20 days for condo-townhouse properties. Inventory was at a 1.1-month supply in the first quarter for single-family homes and at a 1.7-month supply for condo-townhouse properties, according to Florida Realtors.
Download the 2Q 2021 data report PDFs under Market Data at: http://floridarealtors.org/newsroom/market-data