‘A very scary situation’: This once-popular Florida hot spot now has properties languishing on the market for months — what’s behind the trend and what it could mean for the state

Home sales stall

Fort Myers homeowners face growing frustration as their homes are taking longer to sell than they expected.

Local data shows properties are now sitting on the market for an average of almost 100 days — a sharp contrast to a couple of years ago when homes spent closer to 50 days on the market.

“I had one property that was on the market for 10 months and it didn’t sell,” Fort Myers-area real estate agent Sue Christiano told Gulf Coast News Today.

“We got offers, but they were all lowball.”

This isn’t just a Fort Myers problem. Similar slowdowns are occurring in cities across Florida, including major metropolitan areas like Tampa Bay and Miami.

In south Florida, homes are now taking 90 days to sell, according to CBS News Miami — compared to 60 days a few years ago. In Tampa Bay, the average number of days houses stay on the market has jumped as well, with ABC Action News reporting a rise in inventory and a shift to what agents are calling a buyer’s market.

For Strange, who told WINK News that she needs the proceeds from selling her mother’s home to cover her mother’s assisted-living expenses, the market cooling couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

“We’re getting into the point where if something doesn’t happen within the next year, it’ll be a very scary situation,” she said.

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Soaring mortgage rates and insurance premiums drive trend

The housing slowdown happening across Florida reflects national trends in the U.S., including high mortgage rates, soaring home insurance premiums and high listing prices.

Treasury yields, which influence consumer borrowing costs, have risen. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates in the U.S. are close to 6.7%. Rising mortgage rates reduce prospective homebuyers’ purchasing power. For those thinking about buying a home, an increase in mortgage payments, by potentially hundreds of dollars per month, can mean the difference between deciding to buy a home or not.

Insurance costs have also skyrocketed in Florida, where natural disasters like hurricanes and flooding have sharply driven up premiums. In fact, climate-driven disasters are driving up insurance premiums across the U.S. For example, in midwestern states, hail storms have caused premiums to rise rapidly and some insurers are even refusing to cover homes in vulnerable areas.

According to the Wall Street Journal, severe storms cost insurers $58 billion in 2024. The Consumer Federation of America says U.S. homeowners have faced a 24% increase in home insurance premiums in the past three years. Additional insurance costs are another factor further deterring potential buyers from entering the market.

Added to all of this are the inflated home prices still lingering from the housing boom during the pandemic. This combination of factors is creating a challenging environment for both buyers and sellers.

Potential long-term impact

The good news is that the housing slowdown in Florida seems to reflect a market correction rather than a crash. Yes, home prices in the state have fallen over the past year, but only around 3%, and they are stabilizing.

The slowdown has triggered an inventory buildup in cities like Fort Myers in the southwestern part of the state, which could prolong the market correction in these areas.

The more worrying long-term impact may be related to the rising cost of insurance. If premiums continue to rise at the current rate, it could put home ownership beyond the reach of first-time buyers.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, some homeowners are choosing to forgo insurance altogether, potentially putting their No. 1 asset at huge risk. What’s more, as insurers exit some markets due to climate risks, it could also affect the equity of existing homeowners.

So, while the housing market in Florida does not appear to be collapsing, there does appear to be an affordability crisis created by rising mortgage and insurance costs. This could transform who can afford to buy a home, in what areas they can do so and what degree of risk they incur.