Florida housing market turns a corner as sales, prices rise in March

March home sales numbers for Florida saw the highest median sale price in 21 months and seventh month in a row where more homes sold than a year ago.

Hide Caption Florida Realtor compares sales activity so far in 2026 to recent yearsDon Bell of Re/Max Signature in Port Orange talks about how the Florida home resale market has changed over the past six years.

After a so-so year in 2025, Realtors in Florida ended this year's first quarter on a roll with an uptick in both sale prices for homes as well as the number sold.

The $420,000 median sale price for existing single-family homes sold in March — meaning half sold for more and half for less — was the highest in 21 months, according to the latest numbers from the Florida Realtors association. The 24,497 closed sales of homes for the month was up 5.9% from 23,128 a year ago and the most sold in 10 months.

"We're not back to 2018-2019 levels, but we turned a corner midway last year and we haven't looked back yet," said Brad O'Connor, chief economist for the statewide Florida Realtors association.

Why was Florida's housing market in need of a turnaround?

The corner the Florida housing market turned from was the period that began in late 2022 when the 28-month streak of double digit year-over-year percentage gains in median sale prices for homes finally ended.

That unusual hot streak which saw year-over-year median sale prices for homes sold in Florida rise as much as 27% in May 2021 was fueled by a surge of newcomers flocking to Florida during global COVID-19 pandemic.

After drawing a record net gain of 1,518 newcomers a day on average in 2022, Florida's population growth slowed to 1,411 a day in 2022, 922 a day in 2024 and 539 a day last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

To put things in context, in 2019, the year before the pandemic spread to Florida and the rest of the country, the state's population grew by an average of 649 newcomers a day.

"Back during the pandemic, everything was on fire and houses were selling like hotcakes," recalled Realtor Don Bell of Re/Max Signature in Port Orange.

The past three years, in contrast, have been "quite challenging" for real estate agents "with sales being down," he said. "As we come into '26, we see that sales are actually up year over year, by 8.9% in our area. We're starting to see a rebound with more activity in the market."

Bell and buyer's agent Rich Parthemore work as a two-person Realtor team called "Don Bell Sells" at Re/Max Signature. This year, sales for the team have been "phenomenal," he said. "We've had 10 sales so far with another five pending."

Median sale prices for homes in Florida remain near an all-time high

Despite the slow down in home sales activity the past couple of years, that period did mark a new record-high for home prices when the median sale price rose to $430,000 in April 2024.

The statewide median sale price for homes rose above $400,000 for the first time in April 2022. With the exception of three months late that year and in early 2023, it's remained above that mark since then, according to historical data provided by the Florida Realtors association.

Last month was the 37th month in a row that the median sale price in Florida has been over $400,000.

Why is Florida seeing improved home sales numbers this year?

For the state as a whole, "Florida's housing market is showing a more balanced and sustainable direction with strong year-over-year gains in both sales and pending activity showing buyers are motivated and engaged," said Chuck Bonfiglio, the 2026 board president of the Florida Realtors association, in a news release.

Bonfiglio is a longtime Realtor South Florida who is the broker-owner of AAA Realty Group in Plantation. "Inventory has improved, giving buyers more options, while price trends remain relatively steady overall — with modest single-family price growth and more flexibility in the condo-townhouse market," he said.

O'Connor said the uptick in home sales numbers for March are particularly encouraging when put into context: "What I see is seven straight months of closed sales being up," he said. "There are still a number of people wanting to move to Florida. There's a lot of pent-up demand."

Lower mortgage rates are encouraging more people to shop for homes

A big factor behind this year's improved first quarter home sales numbers is lower mortgage rates for new loans, compared with 2025.

The national average rate for new 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans recently fell below 6% for the first time in more than three years to 5.98% for the week that ended Feb. 26, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, also known as Freddie Mac.

The average rate for new 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans have inched higher since then, but remain lower than they were a year ago. The rate was 6.30% for the week that ended April 16, compared with 6.83% the same week in 2025.

The average rate in recent years had gotten as high as 7.79% for the week that ended Oct. 26, 2023.

Why are Florida lower mortgage rates significant?

A change in the interest rate for a mortgage loan can increase or decrease what a homebuyer can afford to purchase, in terms of their monthly mortgage payments.

In the 32128 zip code in Port Orange, Florida, for example, a homebuyer who purchases a home with an $80,000 down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan would hypothetically pay $2,458 a month at 7% and $2,248 a month at 6%, according to the mortgage calculator on the website Bankrate.com.

Actual monthly mortgage loan payments vary throughout the state depending on a number of factors including property taxes and homeowners insurance rates.

Some are still finding the Florida housing market challenging

Brian Disbrow is a veteran Realtor with Collado Real Estate who has sold by his estimation 25 to 30 homes over the past five years in the Summer Trees 55-plus community in Port Orange where he lives. Homes in Summer Trees were built from 1976 to 2005.

"It was really hot and heavy go-go-go in 2021, '22 and '23 and then it slowed down in '24 and '25," said Disbrow, who added that so far this year he has only made one sale in his community. "It's still flat. I've seen no improvement and we're the least expensive neighborhood in Port Orange."

Disbrow held an open house on April 19 for a two-bed, two-bath house in Summer Trees that was built in 1981. No one came.

The asking price for the 1,160-square-foot house is $239,900. It was listed for sale on March 10, according to Zillow and other real estate websites. The current owner paid $192,000 for it in 2024, according to property records.

"I'm a little bewildered," said Disbrow. "I've never seen it this slow."

The statewide home sales and home price numbers that the Florida Realtors association reports each month are reflective of the housing market for the state as a whole. That doesn't necessarily mean that sales and prices are rising for all homes and in all markets within Florida.

"Overall, Florida's housing market continues to get healthier and healthier by the month at a slow but steady pace. Sales growth has been consistent. Prices remain fairly level and inventory has stabilized, but that's at the state level," said O'Connor in a video posted on the Floridarealtor.org website.

"We have some markets where inventory is still a little high, and we are seeing a little bit more downward pressure on prices. And then we have some parts of the state where sales growth hasn't been entirely positive as of late. But sales in most of our local markets around the state continue to rise consistently."

How Florida March home sales this year compare to past years

Here's a look at the number of existing single-family homes sold in Florida each March dating back to 2019. The numbers include the median sale price for homes sold that month each year and (marked in parentheses) the year-over-year percentage gain or loss for both sales volume and median sale price:

• March 2019: Number sold: 24,979 (-0.2%). Median sale price: $256,000 (+2.0%).
• March 2020: Number sold: 26,612 (+6.5%). Median sale price: $275,000 (+7.4%).
• March 2021: Number sold: 32,819 (+23.3%). Median sale price: $327,000 (+18.9%).
• March 2022: Number sold: 30,793 (-6.2%). Median sale price: $396,558 (+21.3%).
• March 2023: Number sold: 26,161 (-15.0%). Median sale price: $405,000 (+2.1%).
• March 2024: Number sold: 23,435 (-10.4%). Median sale price: $420,600 (+3.9%).
• March 2025: Number sold: 23,128 (-1.3%). Median sale price: $412,500 (-1.9%).
• March 2026: Number sold: 24,497 (+5.9%). Median sale price: $420,000 (+1.8%).

− Source: Florida Realtors

How Florida's population has grown in recent years

Here's a look at Florida's population growth each year since 2019 as well as the net increase each year compared with the year before, and the average net gain per day:

• 2019: 21,492,056 (+237,130)(+649/day)
• 2020: 21,591,325 (+99.269)(+272/day)
• 2021: 21,836,698 (+245,373)(+672/day)
• 2022: 22,413,989 (+577,291)(+1,518/day)
• 2023: 22,929,248 (+515,259)(+1,411/day)
• 2024: 23,265,838 (+336,590)(+922/day)
• 2025: 23,462,518 (+196,680)(+539/day)

− Source: U.S. Census Bureau annual estimates via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)

Clayton Park is a journalist for the USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA. He covers everything from insurance, utilities and home prices to groceries, gas and auto prices as the Florida consumer pocketbook reporter. If you have news tips, please send them to [email protected]. You can get all of Florida's best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://news-journalonline.com/newsletters.