Florida Is Giving Housing Optimists Reason to Buzz Again

While much of the United States is ending January with bitterly cold weather, signs of a thaw are emerging in Florida’s housing market after years of stagnation. This is by no means an “all clear” signal. Rather, it reflects a regional shift, with Sun Belt states transitioning from a period of rising inventory and low transaction levels to one of stable inventory, transaction growth and more robust price discovery.

The key dynamic in Florida is that inventory is no longer increasing, a big change from the past few years when unsold houses steadily accumulated on the market. Active inventory in Florida rose just 5% year over year in December, according to Lance Lambert of ResiClub Analytics, less than the 12% increase for the US overall and less than the build-up in most of the Northeast and Midwest. So far in January, Compass Inc. Chief Economist Mike Simonsen has seen no change in active inventory for single-family homes in Florida, teeing up a possible year-over-year decline for the first time in years.