Florida Housing Market Shows Signs of Early Rebound

Florida's housing market is exhibiting tentative signs of an early rebound, potentially bucking the trend of the challenged national market. This shift follows a period where the Sunshine State led the national market downward due to high interest rates impacting home sales approximately three years ago. In July, Florida experienced a "strong increase in home sales along with price recovering," as reported by Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors®. This contrasts sharply with the market's decline observed a year prior. Despite ongoing challenges, including the state's property insurance crisis and property tax reform decisions pending the upcoming governor's race, "Florida's housing market is showing more resilience than the national market," according to Hannah Jones, a senior economist at Realtor.com®. A key indicator of this resilience is the performance of the luxury segment. Home sales exceeding $1 million have increased by 9.6% year over year in Florida. These high-value transactions now constitute 11.4% of all Florida sales, compared to 8.4% to 9.0% nationwide. This trend is even more pronounced in Miami, where the market for homes priced over $1 million demonstrates greater stability. Overall home sales in Florida have seen a year-over-year decline of 6.1% so far in 2026, based on a Realtor.com analysis of deed data. However, this decline is less severe than the 8.2% drop observed nationally. Furthermore, the median number of days homes remain on the market in Florida has decreased by 6.4% year over year, representing one of the most significant improvements among all states, according to Realtor.com data. Mike Simonsen, chief economist at real estate brokerage Compass, characterizes Florida as a "high-beta market," meaning it tends to rise faster during boom periods and fall more rapidly during slowdowns, similar to high-beta stocks. Compass is also observing positive trends in the state's luxury market, with pending sales for luxury single-family homes and condos up by 22.1% and 24.1% respectively, year over year. This suggests a strengthening demand at the upper end of the market, which could signal broader recovery.