November 18, 2025
Stability appears to be replacing volatility and panic is giving way to patience when it comes to the housing market in Tampa Bay and across the state. Mortgage Professional America (MPA), a leading B2B trade publication in the mortgage sector, recently reported that Florida’s market showed renewed momentum in September. MPA cited a 13.6% jump year-over-year in closed sales of existing single-family homes. Condo-townhouse sales also witnessed an 8% year-over-year jump, according to the latest data from Florida Realtors.
“Florida’s housing market continues to show strength and balance,” 2025 Florida Realtors president Tim Weisheyer told MPA.
In 2020 in the wake of COVID-19, the state’s housing market boomed with cash offers becoming the norm and several homes selling five days after hitting the market. Transplants from California and the Northeast’s tri-state region drove demand, and that migration, combined with low borrowing costs and the rise of remote work, turned the region and the state into a hot market.
In response to the post-pandemic rush, inventory rose dramatically thanks largely to new construction.
But rising interest rates, property insurance concerns and the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton have depressed demand.
“Some people are just running scared,” real estate agent Kristin Washington said on WUSF’s Florida Matters Live and Local. “[In] Coastal areas, the insurance rates are sky high. We’re talking about a couple of thousand dollars or more. Flood zones have changed.”
That combination of factors quickly shifted the region from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market in late 2024 and the beginning of 2025.
Now, inventory growth has slowed, and median prices have leveled off. Add in the decreasing interest rates, it appears the volatility may be giving way to stability.
“People are starting to move whether they have a 3% interest rate or not,” real estate agent Joe Lewkowicz told WUSF. “They really want to move.”
PulteGroup, a major homebuilder, reported a 2% increase in net new orders in Florida during the second quarter of this year. Realtor.com saw it as a positive shift in the state's real estate landscape.
“Despite challenges in the entry-level home market, sales of move-up homes and active adult communities have shown significant growth,” the blog reported.
However, experts point out the lower inventory appears to be a result of sellers pulling out of the market as opposed to sales increasing. With the buyers’ market impacting pricing, some homeowners are opting to pull their houses off the market.
“Some of them are likely looking to wait out this period and wait for more demand to come back,” Redfin researcher Chen Zhao told Newsweek.
The state’s metro areas spurred the delisting trend with Miami and Tampa leading the way, according to the Newsweek article.
Jenna Stauffer, a Florida-based real-estate broker and global real estate advisor for Sotheby’s International Realty, told Fortune the pullback is “healthy,” though, because it helps reset home prices and balances out supply and demand.