Will Florida’s Real Estate Market Become a Buyer’s Market?
- By Miguel E. Hernandez
- Feb 07, 2025
Find out if Florida’s real estate market will shift towards a buyer’s market, based on the latest trends and predictions for 2025.
High mortgage rates and property insurance rates, combined with economic uncertainty during an election year, tighter financial conditions, and extreme weather events, led Florida's real estate market to experience a slowdown last year.
But, will it become a market that favors buyers?
The answer might be yes, especially in certain local areas, according to Florida Realtors® Chief Economist, Dr. Brad O’Connor, who spoke to an audience of real estate agents at the 2025 Florida Real Estate Trends summit last week.
“If we follow the general rule that a balanced market has between five and six months of inventory, single-family homes ended 2024 barely in a seller’s market with 4.7 months of inventory, while condos and townhouses are already firmly in buyer’s market territory with 8.2 months of inventory.”Dr. Brad O’Connor, Chief Economist, Florida Realtors®
The year-over-year growth in single-family home inventory was fairly uniform across the state, with most counties registering increases of between 25% and 35%. As for condos and townhouses, the growth in active listings was positive across the state at the close of 2024, although some areas saw a larger increase than others.
“In 2024, several challenges weakened the demand for homes in Florida, including the fact that mortgage rates remained high, as well as property insurance rates,” said O’Connor.
Florida's real estate market was also impacted by several hurricanes throughout the year, from Hurricane Debby to the near-consecutive devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
In addition, other factors that impacted the state's residential market in 2024 included internal migration, which continues above the long-term trend but is slowing down.
On the other hand, employment growth across the state slowed, though it remains solid; demand from international buyers remained moderate, and challenges affecting the condo market, particularly reserve requirements and insurability, persisted.
The sharpest declines occurred in coastal counties along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, while the only positive spot was found in the I-4 corridor, in the suburban areas between Tampa and Orlando, as well as further north in The Villages and Ocala, where condo and townhouse sales grew in 2024 compared to 2023.
With new listings growing and sales declining, inventory levels in both categories – single-family homes and condos/townhouses – ended the year slightly above typical pre-pandemic levels (2014-2019).
Looking ahead to 2025, interest rates will continue to determine much of the market's behavior, although the challenges of 2024 will remain key factors for Florida's real estate sector in the coming months, summarized O’Connor.
Florida Realtors® represents the real estate sector in Florida, offering programs, services, continuing education, research, and legislative representation to 238,000 members across 50 associations, according to the organization's information.