REAL ESTATE: Inventory and activity up; home sale prices stagnant in Florida and Ocala area

The Florida Realtors agents’ association’s July 2024 market report shows that statewide the median single-family home sale price in Florida rose slightly to $417,000, a 0.5% year over year increase, and townhouses and condo median sales price decreased to $315,000, a 1.3% decrease from July 2023.

The Ocala/Marion County’s July median sale price reported for single-family homes was $284,900, virtually unchanged from last year. Ocala/Marion County saw 779 closings of single-family home in July, a decrease of 0.8% from July 2023.

Brad O’Connor, senior economist for the Florida Realtors, a statewide agents’ reporting and professional trade association, said the market has significant variability throughout the state.

“It’s really important to keep in mind right now that we’re starting to see markets in different parts of the state exhibit different behaviors, statistically speaking. Inventory has remained well below pre-pandemic levels in South Florida, but in many parts of the state, inventory levels are a fair amount higher,” O’Connor said.

Single-Family Market Sector

O’Connor also spoke to the activity and inventory levels.

“New listings of single-family homes remained in line with what we would have expected in the pre-pandemic market, but there were almost 11% more new listings this July compared to last year’s unusually low count. Meanwhile, nearly 14% more townhouses and condos came onto the market in July compared to a year ago.”

Statewide, single family home sales in July were up 5.2% compared to a year ago. The active listing inventory for single-family homes is at 97,634, an increase of 60.5% over last July.

Regarding inventory, O’Connor said, “The inventory of single-family homes continues to rise. But over the last three months, this growth has slowed as each month has passed. I’d caution, however, that this slowdown may be, in part, just a seasonal effect. From 2014 through 2019, statewide single-family inventory levels generally declined in the summer months, with 2018 as the one exception. Remember that in late 2018, we saw 5% mortgage rates. That sure seemed high back then, but right now it’s looking pretty good.”

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

“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 increased by 1.2% with a total of 6,156 throughout Florida, which accounted for 26.4% 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.”

Townhomes/Condos Market Sector

Locally, the market area of Ocala/Marion County townhouses and condos median sales prices came in at $227,500, an increase of 10.4% from July 2023. A total of 74 closed sales were reported.

Statewide, townhouses and condos median price was $315,000, and slight decrease of 1.3% from last July. The active inventory is 61,897, a 91.1% increase from July 2023. Overall, the market is moving toward more activity.

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

For townhomes and condos, the number of cash sales statewide was 4,026 a decrease of 1.7% from July 2023. Those sales represented slightly under 48% of the market.