Florida housing crisis described in five chilling words as homeowners brace for market collapse

Daily Mail ^ | July 22, 2025 | Tilly Armstrong

[Angelino97]

Florida's turbulent housing market has been described in five chilling words as homeowners desperately try to offload properties.

Chen Zhao, the head of economics research for Redfin, described South Florida as the 'epicenter of housing market weakness' in the US.

'The question for the rest of the country is, will this spread? Florida is uniquely bad right now,' Zhao told Bloomberg last month.

The area saw a huge influx of new residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Americans, freed by work from home orders, arrived in search of sunnier weather and lower taxes.

But now the bubble has well and truly burst, and homeowners are struggling to sell amid a growing condo crisis and soaring insurance and mortgage rates.

In April, contracts to buy homes in the Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale regions fell dramatically from the year prior. Homes also lingered longer on the market.

Pending sales fell 23 percent in Miami, according to Redfin, which was the largest drop among the 50 most populous metro area across the US.

Transactions were down almost 19 percent in Fort Lauderdale and tumbled around 14 percent in West Palm Beach.

Homes also spent an average of 83 days on the market in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and 81 in Miami.

This is more than double the national median of 40 days in April.

It is a stark turnaround from the height of the pandemic, when homes in these regions were snapped up quickly and regularly sold for more than their listing price.

'I think you're seeing a really long, slow deflation of that bubble,' Zhao told Bloomberg of the southern markets that boomed during Covid.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; housing; realty

[crusty old prospector]

I had to look hard for the five words.

[Gay State Conservative]

Later

[Alas Babylon!]

Well, now all those Gen Z’ers who have been complaining about the housing market can head to Florida and pick up real property!

[shadeaud]

Soft sellers market all over Texas. Not surprising since home sale prices exploded during COVID. Interest rates Bryant rise and perks started to fade. It’s called natural flow of economy.

[montag813]

Contracts, pending sales, transactions are down, but what about prices? Are these for seaside condos only, because of the specific new regulations that have exploded costs in the wake of the Seaside collapse? Or is this affecting single family homes throughout the state?

[Freee-dame]

After that condominium fell down in South Florida, theyFlorida government tightened the regulations about how condos had to keep up their maintenance. This became very expensive, especially for older condos. That combined with the people who fled to Florida during the pandemic and now want to live elsewhere is contributing to excess homes on the market.

[piytar]

(1) Largely due to interest rates. Hello Fed?!

(2) Above doesn’t matter. A huge number of gazillionaires — and their employees — are fleeing NYC and LA to move to (a) Florida and (b) Texas. They are about to see a housing boom.

[BHI2025]

Bookmark

[Wilderness Conservative]

Amazing how supply and demand work. Maybe building everywhere you could because you could wasn’t the smartest move. Most of the construction jobs went to illegals anyway.

[JudyinCanada]

I dare say people are waiting for those rates to drop, considering the current war of words going on between President Trump and Powell.

[PGR88]

5 Words: Who Says It Will Collapse?

[catnipman]

if they can just hold on until Zohran is elected mayor of NYC this November, their problems will be solved ...

[Orosius]

‘I think you’re seeing a really long, slow deflation of that bubble,’

That sounds like free market supply and demand at work, not some catastrophe.

[Gay State Conservative]

They say that a new state law is causing condo complexes to issue huge "special assessments" in an effort to be in compliance. I've read that many of them are so steep that the old folks who own the condos simply can't pay so they're forced to sell their places for pennies on the dollar.

Also I've read that homeowner's insurance premiums have exploded in the last few years...thanks to hurricanes no doubt.

[Dr. Franklin]

This is great news for MAGA folks looking to leave Blue States and move to FL. Keep FL Red!

[ncalburt]

Lol Please the
Daily Markle has peddled this same story weekly since Jan .

Its pure BS but it appears this socialist globalist rag
is trying to create sellers panic for its
globalist owner or his friends .

All the homes in my neighbor are under contract and its a pricey
older homes .

The Daily Markle is weekly Trump Hate or trashing the Trump economy .

[HereInTheHeartland]

“They say that a new state law is causing condo complexes to issue huge “special assessments” ”

A building collapsed .
As a result all buildings had to looked at for structural issues as I understand .
Costly upgrades have resulted

[Leaning Right]

> I had to look hard for the five words. <

I didn’t read the article, or even the excerpt (as usual). But given that it’s the Daily Mail, here’s my guess:

It is all Trump’s fault.

[sphinx]

Yup. Retroactive changes in building codes that force expensive fixes and the destruction of the insurance market ... h’mmm ... maybe head to California for some relief?

Oops.