As the price of gas, groceries, and other necessities continued to climb in the month of February, so has the price of homes in Northeast Florida.
The median price for single-family homes in the region rose to $351,495 in February, a 2.7% increase from four weeks ago and a 24.6% increase over the same time last year. Add condominiums and townhouses alongside single-family homes to the mix and the combined median price in Northeast Florida hit $334,050, which is also a substantial increase from February 2021.
“The real estate market in Northeast Florida remains solidly a seller’s market with just 1.2 months’ supply, as active inventory of single family, condo, and townhomes settles in at 2,646 units, down from both last year and last month,” said Mark Rosener, president of Northeast Florida Association of REALTORS (NEFAR).
“World Events, inflation – particularly gas prices – and mortgage interest rates are inching up. This puts stress on the Home Affordability Index for single-family homes, condos, and townhouses so that it stands at 97 at the end of February,” Rosener said, referring to the indicator, which measures housing affordability and shows the level a typical family earns to qualify for a mortgage on a typical home, based on current interest rates, median income, and median home prices. A higher number means greater affordability. “These factors are hard to predict in the future, but a good guess is that interest rates will continue to increase creating more urgency for those that need, or want, to make a move to a new home,” he said.
Specifically, single-family homes spent a median of 17 days on the market throughout the region. Active inventory was 2,227, a decrease of 15.6% from last month and a drop of 33.9% from last year. Sellers were happy as 100% received their asking price and 33.3% closed over list price.
Meanwhile, condos posted a median of $225,000 throughout the region, a 23.3% increase in price since February 2021 and a 2.3% climb since last month. As with single-family homes, condo sellers received 100.2% of their asking price with 34.3% receiving more than the list price, a 50.4% change upward since January 2022. The affordability index for condos showed they are becoming more expensive with an index of 144, a 5.3% drop from the month before when it registered 152. Active inventory was 213 – a one-month supply.
Similarly, townhouses posted a median price of $267,495, a $10,000 increase from $257,495 last month. Townhouse sellers received 100% of their listing price. With 31.5% closing over the asking price, this signaled a 75.4% increase over last year and 17.7% increase since last month.
NEFAR’s market reports are available at nefar.com.
