Roughly one in three homes listed for sale in Tampa, Florida, in June had their original asking price slashed by sellers, according to a new study by GoBankingRates. Homeowners in some areas of the Sunshine State are struggling to find buyers amid a flood of new inventory and stubbornly high mortgage rates.
GoBankingRates, a website that provides users with information on personal finance, investing, retirement and financial products, analyzed the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) in the country using Zillow’s June 2024 data to find the worst markets for growth. These were the ones with the biggest one-year and two-year home value drops, largest mean price cuts and share of listings with price cuts, and with the longest period before a property went under contract.
While the worst housing market for growth in the entire nation was Austin, Texas, due to the drastic price drop it has seen in the past couple of years (-17.65 percent) and the high share of listings with price cuts (29.54 percent), five of the top 10 worst markets were in the Sunshine State.
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These included North Port (third in the ranking), Cape Coral (fifth), Crestview (sixth), Naples (seventh) and Tampa (tenth).
A home in North Port was valued at $450,116 in June, down 1.64 percent from June 2023 and 2.16 percent from June 2022. A share of 33.20 percent of listings had price cuts in June.
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In Cape Coral, the average home value was $390,185 in June, down 2.25 percent compared to a year earlier and 1.93 compared to June 2022. The share of listings with price cuts was 23.72 percent.
The average home in Crestview was worth $445,687 in June, down 0.69 compared to June 2023 and 0.96 percent compared to June 2022. Some 27.97 percent of homes listed for sale had a price cut.
In Naples, where the average home value is $604,606, home prices actually rose by 1.15 percent in June compared to a year earlier, and by 1.94 percent compared to two years earlier. Despite that, it took an average 38 days for homes to sell on the market and 25.37 percent of listings had a price cut in June.
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In Tampa, where a home was valued at $381,941, home prices have risen by 2.71 percent between June 2023 and June 2024 and by 2.35 percent between June 2022 and June 2024. And yet, 35.26 percent of listings had a price cut—the highest share among the Florida cities featuring in the top 10 worst housing markets for growth.
In all the Florida cities, it took over 30 days for homes listed for sale to go under contract—enough to consider a listing “stale.” Newsweek contacted GoBankFunding for comment by email on Friday morning, outside of standard working hours.
The data compiled by GoBankFunding show how some housing markets in Florida have been rapidly cooling following the end of the pandemic, in part due to a surge in new listings and new constructions—especially in the west coast of the state.
“Inventory is back up to pre-pandemic levels along the west coast of Florida as natural disasters continue to shape the region’s housing market by leading to more supply and less demand,” said Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa in a June news release.
“Construction is booming in the wake of recent climate disasters, and there’s less demand to buy new homes as the region braces for another intense hurricane season,” he added.
While the price cuts are likely to be welcome news for aspiring homebuyers in these Florida cities, home prices are still rising in cities like Tampa, and mortgage rates are still hovering around the 7 percent mark.
