Florida is experiencing a significant decline in pending home sales, with five metropolitan areas ranking among those with the fastest decreases in the U.S. This analysis is based on the 50 most populous metropolitan areas, with Redfin including 47 that had sufficient data.
According to the latest data published this week by Redfin, Fort Lauderdale, pending sales dropped 15.2% year over year during the four weeks ending November 10—the biggest decline among the U.S. metropolitan areas Redfin analyzed. Next came Miami (-14%), West Palm Beach (-13.8%), Jacksonville (-9.5%) and Tampa (-7.2%). Nationwide, pending sales rose 4.7% over the same period.
The state’s housing market has been slowing for several months, influenced by frequent natural disasters, rising home insurance costs, and increasing homeowners’ association (HOA) fees due to the growing risk of hurricane damage. An especially devastating hurricane season has exacerbated the situation. Hurricane Helene struck northwestern Florida on September 26, becoming the deadliest storm to hit mainland America in nearly two decades. Shortly after, Hurricane Milton impacted central Florida.
Additionally, Florida faces a housing affordability crisis. Despite a high volume of new home construction—which typically helps stabilize home price growth—prices and property taxes are still significantly higher than they were before the pandemic-driven surge in homebuying. This has contributed to a slowdown in homebuying demand.
However, some Florida metropolitan areas have begun to see a recovery in sales following the hurricanes. In Tampa, pending home sales dropped by as much as 32.2% during the four weeks ending October 20, which reflects the effects of both hurricanes. Fortunately, that decline has since improved, and pending sales are now only down by 7.2% year over year, indicating that the worst may be over.
Similarly, in Orlando, pending sales initially fell by 14.1% during the four weeks ending November 3, but have since decreased by just 5.1%.
