Even
as
the
median
U.S.
home
sale
price
remains
near
record
highs
and
supply
stays
constrained
in
many
locales,
two
of
the
most
populous
states
that
have
seen
a
surge
in
demand
since
the
start
of
the

COVID-19
pandemic
are
showing
signs
of
a
pullback.

That’s
according
to
a
pair
of
reports
released
Thursday
by


Redfin.
The
national
real
estate
brokerage
found
that
the
nationwide
median
sale
price
reached
$420,357
in
March
2024.
That
figure
was
up
5%
year
over
year
and
was
only
3%
below
the
peak
price
of
$432,496
in
May
2022.

In

Texas
and

Florida,
however,
key
market
signals
show
diverging
trends.
Redfin
reported
that
among
the
10
U.S.
metros
areas
with
the
largest
annualized
increases
in
listings
in
March,
six
were
in
Florida
and
two
were
in
Texas.
Cape
Coral,
Florida,
led
the
way
in
this
category
with
supply
growth
of
51%.
Major
markets
such
as
Tampa,
Orlando
and

Dallas
also
posted
supply
growth
of
20%
to
30%
during
this
period.

Additionally,
of
the
10
U.S.
metro
areas
where
price
cuts
were
occurring
most
frequently,
five
were
in
Florida
and
two
were
in
Texas.
North
Port-Sarasota,
Florida,
topped
this
list
as
48%
listings
last
month
included
a
price
cut.
Tampa,
Orlando,
Houston,
San
Antonio
and
Jacksonville
all
had
price-cut
shares
of
at
least
33%.
 

Redfin
noted
that
for-sale
supply
at
the
national
level
rose
by
10.2%
year
over
year
in
March,
although
growth
in
listings
is
expected
to
subside
due
to
the
lock-in
effect
of
higher
mortgage
rates.


HousingWire’s
Mortgage
Rates
Center
showed
that
the
average
30-year
conventional
fixed
rate
was
7.56%
on
Friday
—
up
from
6.83%
at
the
start
of
the
year.

“My
advice
to
sellers
is
to
price
your
home
fairly,”
Chen
Zhao,
economic
research
lead
at
Redfin,
said
in
a
statement.
“Even
though
sellers
are
getting
top
dollar
at
the
moment,
they
should
price
competitively
to
attract
buyers
from
the
start
and
avoid
having
to
drop
their
price
as
stubbornly
high
mortgage
rates
eat
into
buying
budgets.

“Price
growth
may
cool
slightly
in
the
coming
months
if
mortgage
rates
stay
high
or
rates
might
fall
slightly
—
but
overall
housing
costs
are
likely
to
remain
elevated
for
the
foreseeable
future.”

Listings
in
Cape
Coral
were
spending
a
median
of
31
days
on
the
market
longer
than
in
March
2023
—
the
largest
increase
in
the
nation,
Redfin
reported.
It
also
noted
that
Florida
and
Texas
have
built
more
homes
than
other
states
in
recent
years
as
they
sought
to
accommodate
the
influx
of
pandemic-era
migrants,
but
“the
boom
is
over,
in
part
because
many
people
have
been
priced
out.”

“Out-of-town
homebuyers
no
longer
see
Florida
as
a
place
to
get
amazing
value,”
Eric
Auciello,
a
Tampa-based
Redfin
sales
manager,
said
in
a
news
release.
“Now
they’re
moving
to
North
Carolina
or
Tennessee
to
get
a
good
deal.
Many
local
blue-collar
workers
have
been
priced
out
of
homeownership,
too.”

Rising
costs
for
homeowners
insurance
are
also
playing
a
part
in
sagging
affordability.

S&P
Global
found
that
homeowners
insurance
rates
in
Florida
soared
by
43.2%
from
2018
to
2023.
Florida
homeowners,
on
average,
now
pay
$6,000
a
year
to
insure
their
property
—
triple
what
they
paid
in
2019,
according
to
the

Insurance
Information
Institute.

“Florida,
like
many
places,
is
seeing
the
insurance
piece
of
the
component
impacting
people’s
payments
in
a
way
that
is
making
it
hard
to
them
to
navigate
the
market,”

Cyndee
Haydon,
a
Florida-based
agent
for Future
Home
Realty,
recently
told
HousingWire.

Related