Closed sales of existing single-family homes in Florida totaled 18,721, down 12.3% year-over-year, while existing condo-townhouse sales totaled 6,655, down 20.7% year-over-year, according to data from Florida Realtors.
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in September was $410,000, roughly identical (up 0.2%) from $409,243 one year earlier. For condo-townhouse units, the median price was $314,000, down 3.4% from $324,990 recorded in September 2023.
Hurricane Helene created disruptions in Florida’s housing market for at least six of the 20 business days during the month, according to Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor.
“That said, the National Hurricane Center was remarkably consistent in its forecasting of Helene, and the cone largely focused in on the Big Bend area the entire time, keeping the worst of Helene off the highly populated West Coast of the peninsula,” said O’Connor. “That allowed the real estate market in much of the peninsula and the western Panhandle to essentially operate in a close-to-normal fashion as the storm approached. And, while the surge was significant in the Tampa Bay area and certainly caused damage near the coast, Helene’s central hurricane-force winds missed all of the state’s major population centers, minimizing power outages and inland structural damage, as well.”
On a quarterly measurement, statewide existing single-family home sales totaled 64,749 for the third quarter, down 2.6% from one year earlier, while statewide existing condo-townhouse sales totaled 22,917, down 12.3% year-over-year. Florida’s single-family median sales price was $414,990 for the quarter, again about the same (up 0.2%) from one year before, while condo-townhouse median sales price was $314,000, down 2% from the same quarter a year ago.
“Good news came late last month in the form of the Federal Reserve finally announcing its first rate cut,” O’Connor added. “The market actually started pricing in this shift in Fed policy a few weeks in advance, so the average national 30-year fixed mortgage rate spent much of September at its lowest point since the beginning of 2023, just above the 6% mark. This stimulated some buyer demand, particularly in the single-family segment of the housing market. New pending sales of single-family homes in September were actually up year-over-year by 1.9%. On the townhouse and condo side of things, new pending sales did not have the same luck; however, the 16.3% decline was still an improvement over last month’s decline of 20.5%.”
On the supply side of the market, Florida had a 4.6-month supply of single-family existing homes in September and in the third quarter, which was up 43.8% year-over-year. For condo-townhouse units, the state had a 7.4-month supply for both September and in the third quarter, up 80.5% year-over-year.
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