June 16, 2025
Redfin recently released a new study citing Tampa Bay as the nation’s sixth best market for buyers. According to the report, Tampa had nearly 27,000 sellers in April and just over 12,000 buyers. The most basic supply and demand lessons tell us having more sellers favors the buyer. Unfortunately, though, it’s not quite smooth sailing for those looking to purchase a home due to the stagnation of interest rates and other affordability factors such as insurance.
Five other Florida cities ranked in the Top 10 -- Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Orlando – and the statistics can be traced to a range of factors, including increased inventory and decreasing migration to most of the state, especially Tampa.
The report reflects the growing trend that Florida has transformed from the post-pandemic boom when sellers held the advantage. A recent moving trend report from PODS listed Tampa Bay as one of the areas with the highest number of move-outs in the nation.
The report also listed Tampa Bay No. 16 among the top 20 cities with the highest number of move outs. It’s a stunning reversal given that Tampa Bay ranked fourth in 2022 and ninth in 2023 for move-ins. PODS, a moving and storage company, cited several factors for the change.
“Development has been ongoing for nearly a decade, prices have soared, traffic has multiplied, and the increasing risk from hurricanes [may] have pushed both transplants and native residents to their limits,” the company stated in its report.
For the second consecutive year, South Florida ranks third on PODS’ move-out list. No other Florida region made the Top 20. However, two cities did make the PODS Top 20 move-in list: Ocala came in at No. 2 and Jacksonville ranked 10th on the list.
For Tampa Bay, the PODS report mirrors the findings of other recent studies. A Redfin report cited a 70 percent decline in Tampa Bay’s migration, noting the inflow dropped from 34,000 in 2023 to 10,200 in early 2024. The drop marked the steepest decline among the nation’s 50 most populous metro areas.
Some may look at such statistics and combine other factors to cast a rather dire outlook for the Tampa Bay real estate market. Others, however, see the current trends as more of a market correction than a reason to cry that the sky is falling.
“We’re still in a very balanced market,” Ali St. Cyr of Tomlin St Cyr Real Estate Services recently told FOX 13. “There's nothing to panic about. You just have a little more time on the market and a little bit more back and forth between the buyer and seller in the sales process.”