The bidding wars and surging prices for Northeast Florida homes during the pandemic are ending, according to the August report by the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.
“While still an 18% increase year over year, the median price in our six-county market has shown mild fluctuations month to month of between $350,000 and $365,000 since March. This indicates that the dramatic increases that were seen during the pandemic are coming to an end, “ said NEFAR 2022 President Mark Rosener said in the monthly sales report of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses.
NEFAR tracks housing information in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
Home prices are moving down. The percentage of sales that closed over list price fell 27.7% and the average list price dropped by a percentage point when compared with July.
The median price for a single-family home in August was $393,900, down 1.5% from July. A year ago, the median price was $330,525.
St. Johns County leads the region with an August median price of $555,000, less than a 1% drop from the previous month. A year ago, the median price in St. Johns was $455,000.
Duval County’s median price is $343,995 and Clay County’s median is $366,250.
The lowest price is found in Putnam and Baker counties. In Baker, the median price is $349,000 and Putnam is $242,000.
The area’s Affordability Index, a measure of if a typical family earns enough to qualify for a 30-year fixed mortgage for a median priced home, increased 2.9% to 70. The ideal index score is 100 or above.
NEFAR says the market is becoming less volatile, with closings and pending sales stabilizing in the 2,300-to-2,500 range over the summer. That is below the 3,000-to-3,500 mark of about a year ago.
“New listings are hitting the market and active inventory has stabilized with 3,200 new listings and 6,348 active listings,” Rosener said.
Rosener offers advice to sellers:
“Sellers will need to price homes in line with current comparable sold and active listings. The tried-and-true factors of location and condition for a home have become as important as ever and are specific to each neighborhood.”
