With Florida’s inventory of single-family homes steadily growing and prices dropping, will Canadians be prepared to relinquish their position as the leading foreign investors in that state’s housing market to competitors from China, Mexico, India or European countries? Though Canada and the United States are going through testing times, the prospect of sharing a salubrious climate at bargain prices is tough to reject, especially in what realty experts describe as a “buyer’s market” …one expected to last into 2025 and possibly 2026? According to Florida Realtor.Org data, the median sales price for closed single-family homes was down by four per cent in April compared to a year ago, falling to a little under $413,000. According to Brad O’Connor, chief economist for Florida Realtors: “Four per cent is the largest year-over-year percentage decline we’ve observed for Florida’s single-family home prices going all the way back to October 2011.” O’Connor explains that “as long as mortgage rates stay (constant), we should continue to expect some price erosion in most markets around the state, particularly where there’s still a lot of competition from new construction. (But) if mortgage rates start downward, closer to 6%, more buyer competition can be expected, which would spur yet more buyer competition. There is a lot of latent housing demand out there, with lots of would-be buyers.” According to data from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage, home listings in April showed Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale as the top three buyer’s markets in the U.S., emphasizing that: “in Miami, there are an estimated 21,672 home sellers and 7,280 homebuyers” equating to 197.7% more sellers than buyers – the largest imbalance among the 50 most-populous U.S. metropolitan areas. Miami is followed by West Palm Beach (182% more sellers than buyers), Fort Lauderdale (179.3%), Austin, TX (124.1%) and Jacksonville, FL (119.5%). According to Florida Housing Weekly (FHW, a realty industry tracking service), the state’s housing market inventory has risen steadily – giving buyers “more options and better opportunities to find a suitable home within their budgets. As of January 2025, Florida had a 7.5-month supply of homes for sale – compared to the national average of 3.6 months.” In real estate parlance, “months of supply” is the metric used to estimate how long it would take to sell all homes currently listed for sale at the current sales rate. The takeaway from this, according to FHW, is that Florida is now a “homebuyer’s paradise.” Will Canadians Turn Their Backs on Florida’s Housing “Buyer’s Market”? By Milan Korcok 32 | www.snowbirds.org Real Estate
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