Florida housing market crumbles: Homeowners struggle to sell amid rising insurance costs and storm fears
Anthony Holmes thought he had hit the jackpot when he joined the wave of Americans fleeing to Florida during the pandemic.Like thousands of others, he left Virginia in 2021 for a new life in the Sunshine State, buying a five-bedroom house in a gated Tampa community.
He put down $550,000 on the property and invested another $50,000 in solar panels and interior upgrades, certain that Florida’s booming real estate market would continue to rise.Now, he can’t even give the house away, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“I can’t unload the thing,” Holmes told the outlet.“In eight months, I’ve had zero offers.
No one even showed up to the open houses.Nobody.” After listing the house in February, Holmes was sure he’d have a buyer in no time.
But despite dropping the price five times, from $620,000 down to $583,900, he still hasn’t had a single offer.The once-hot Florida housing market has turned cold, leaving Holmes and many other homeowners stranded.
Across the state, home sales have slowed to a crawl.Inventory has ballooned by more than 50% in major cities like Tampa, Orlando and along the Space Coast, while demand has dropped by at least 10%, according to real estate data firm Parcl Labs.
More than half of Tampa’s homes on the market have seen price reductions, making it one of the hardest-hit metropolitan areas in the country.A lethal mix of sky-high mortgage rates, surging insurance premiums and, increasingly, hurricanes are the ultimate culprits.
After Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of Florida’s western coast just two weeks ago, another monster storm — Hurricane Milton — is roaring in the Gulf of Mexico, set to make landfall this Wednesday.Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency and warned that Milton could bring significant damage.
DeSantis highlighted the amount of flooding set to take place, urging residents to prepare for evacuations.These storms have become the final straw for many Florida homeown...