The “selling season” in Northeast Florida has arrived, albeit a bit early this year. For single-family homes, prices are up, active inventory is up, new listings are up, and so is the median number of days on the market. There are only two exceptions – pending sales for single-family homes dropped nearly 20%, and, unfortunately for consumers, the Home Affordability Index ratcheted down slightly, 2.2%, to register at 66.5.

The Home Affordability Index measures housing affordability for the region. In other words, it measures whether a typical family earns enough 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.  This index measures affordability factors for all homebuyers making a 20% downpayment. An index of 100 is defined as the point where a median-income family has the exact amount of income needed to purchase a median-priced existing home. An index value over 100 means that the family has more than enough income, while a value below 100 means that a family doesn’t have enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan.

“The market is moving up in a positive direction each month,” said 2024 NEFAR President Rory Dubin. “March saw over a 20% increase in closed transactions despite a slight increase in the median price. In fact, almost a third of sales were above list price, indicating high demand in our more affordable market compared with the rest of and most of the Southeast. Both inventory and new listings increased as well, showing a robust market for both buyers and sellers.”

Specifically, the median sales price for single-family homes in the region in March was $389,000, a 1% increase from February. Active inventory totaled 5,920 homes, a 3.2% increase over last month. Likewise, new listings tallied 3,580, a 6.7% increase. And the median number of days on the market stood at 33, up 3.1% from the month before.

NEFAR’s market reports are available at nefar.com.