Home sale prices show little change in Florida and Ocala area

The Florida Realtors agents’ association recently released its June 2024 market report, showing that statewide the median single-family home sale price in Florida rose slightly to $427,000, a 1.7% year over year increase, and townhouses and condo median sales price decreased to $324,900, virtually unchanged from June 2023 at $325,000.

Ocala/Marion County’s June median sale price reported for single-family homes was $290,000, again virtually unchanged from last year. Ocala/Marion County saw 779 closings of single-family homes in June, a decrease of 11.3% from June 2023.

Single-Family Market Sector

Brad O’Connor, senior economist for the Florida Realtors, a statewide agents’ reporting and professional trade association, said that, generally, “Florida’s housing market in June and second quarter (2Q) 2024 showed rising inventory levels, more new listings and moderating median sales prices compared to a year ago.”

The statewide active listing inventory for single-family homes is at 96,765, an increase of 60.1% over last June.

Overall, closed sales are rising, O’Connor explained. “I’m somewhat optimistic we’ll see better year-over-year figures for closings than we did for June, but it would be tough to say for sure if we’ll exceed last July’s totals. If we look at pending inventory for June—that is, the number of properties that were under contract as of the end of the month—we can see that the gap between last year and this year is quite close for single-family homes, indicating we could see similar numbers of closed sales in the next month or two. The gap for townhouses and condos, by the way, is a bit larger than that for single-family homes, although it is still more favorable than it’s been in recent months.”

Regarding inventory, O’Connor said,” The active inventory of single-family homes remained well above last year’s levels as of the end of June. It was also up compared to the end of the prior month, but notice that it wasn’t up at the same trajectory. That’s something to watch for in the coming months. Inventory may continue to rise, but how much and how fast? Based only on this June’s figure, it could be that single-family inventory is converging toward what we might call a balanced market, at least at the statewide level.”

The association reported the supply of single-family existing homes statewide increased to a 4.6-months’ supply, a 64.3% increase from last June.

“Months’ supply inventory is a useful indicator of market conditions,” the report stated. “The benchmark for a balanced market (favoring neither buyer nor seller) is 5.5 months of inventory. Anything higher is traditionally a buyers’ market, and anything lower is a sellers’ market. “

Statewide, the number of cash sales for single-family homes decreased by 14.7% with a total of 6,298 throughout Florida, which accounted for 27.2% of all sales, less than one-third of the overall market.

“Cash sales can be a useful indicator,” the report stated, “of the extent to which investors are participating in the market. Investors are far more likely to have the funds to purchase a home available up front, whereas the typical homebuyer requires a mortgage or some other form of financing.”

O’Connor said further, “Unsurprisingly, home price growth remains somewhat stagnant. The median price for closed sales of single-family homes in Florida was $427,000, a year-over-year increase of 1.7%. Over in the townhouse and condo category, the median sale price was less than last year’s figure, but just by $100, coming in at $324,900.”

Townhomes/Condos Market Sector done

Locally, the market area of Ocala/Marion County townhouses and condos median sales prices came in at $188,500, a decrease of 9.1% from June 2023. A total of 60 closed sales were reported.

Statewide, townhouses and condos active inventory is 62,011, a 91.9% increase from June 2023. Overall, the market is moving toward more activity.

Existing townhome and condo properties statewide were at a 7.4-months’ supply, a large increase of 105.6% over June of 2023.

For townhomes and condos, the number of cash sales statewide was 4,216 a decrease of 23.3% from June 2023. Those sales represented just over 50% of the market.