Florida House Prices Slashed in Multiple Cities

Home prices are being slashed by sellers in Florida at a much faster pace than in the rest of the country, according to the latest data from online platform Zillow.

February data released by the real estate brokerage show that 33 percent of home listings in the Tampa metropolitan area had a price reduction in the same month—the highest number for a metropolitan area in the entire country and up 3.7 percent compared with a year before. At the national level, 20.1 percent of home listings had price cuts, up 2 percent from a year ago.

The other metropolitan areas that saw the highest price reductions in the country after Tampa were all in the South. Some 32 percent of home listings in Phoenix, Arizona, had price cuts in February, while San Antonio, Texas, had 27 percent.

In Jacksonville, Florida, 26.8 percent of home listings had had a price reduction in the same month, according to Zillow. Nashville, Tennessee, followed with 26.5 percent.

Several Florida cities had among the highest shares of home listings with price cuts in the country, according to Zillow's February market report. Some 28.9 percent of listings in Ocala had a price reduction in February; in Palm Bay, the number went up to 30.9 percent; in North Port, to 35.5 percent.

Some 29.6 percent of listings had a price cut in Naples in February, while the figures were 29.1 percent in Port St. Lucie, 28.6 percent in Lakeland and 26.9 percent in Cape Coral.

The figure for Orlando was 25.2 percent and in Miami 23.8 percent of listings had price cuts.

Newsweek contacted Zillow for comment by email early on Friday.

Read more: First-Time Homebuyer Guide

The slashing of home prices can be partially explained by the fact that the homebuying season is now well under way and there's an increase in the number of listings on the market. Florida, together with Texas, is among the states that constructed most units in 2023, in an attempt to fix the affordability crisis caused by a historic shortage of homes in the U.S..

Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, told MarketWatch that sellers were struggling to get the price of their homes right.

"After a drought of activity in the housing market, nobody is quite sure how to price their home," he told the website. "Successful sellers are those who adopt [a home builder's] strategy," cutting prices and making concessions.

Read more: How To Sell Your Home

Exactly one month ago, Newsweek reported that nearly 25 percent of Florida sellers had cut the listed price of their homes for sale in the state.

As of March 4, the Sunshine State had a total of 202,463 properties—including houses, condos, single-family and multi-family homes, townhomes, and lots—listed by agents on Zillow, and 8,654 listed by owners and others. Among those listed by agents, 47,335 had a price reduction on their originally listed price, while among those listed by owners the number was 1,167.

As of April 5, 50,602 properties listed by agents in Florida had a price reduction out of a total of 207,205. Among those listed by owners or others, the number went down to 1,166 out of a total of 8,797.

Florida Realtors chief economist Brad O'Connor previously told Newsweek that price reductions in the state are likely linked to increased competition among sellers, as many homeowners who were holding on to their properties when mortgage rates suddenly shot up are now deciding it's time to offload them.

"I think initially when rates rose quickly, people were uncertain as to where they would go from there," he said. "But now we're pretty much in a situation where I think everyone is comfortable with the idea that rates are probably going to stay about where they're at, or they're going to decline somewhat in the next year or two."