Florida House Price Cuts Increase

A rising number of homes for sale in Florida are seeing sellers slashing prices in an attempt to offload their properties quickly, according to the latest data available on real estate site Zillow.

Newsweek reported last week that, as of early on Monday, March 4, there were 47,335 homes listed on Zillow with a price reduction out of a total of 202,463 properties listed by agents on the real estate marketplace. Among properties listed by owners or others, 1,167 out of 8,654 had a price reduction.

As of this Monday, the number of Florida properties for sale on Zillow with a price reduction has grown to a total of 48,695 homes listed by agents and a slight fall to 1,125 for properties listed by owners and others.

The jump in the percentage of homes on sale with a price reduction is nearly as large as the increase in homes for sale in the past week in total. There were 204,222 properties listed for sale by agents and 8,857 listed by owners and others. This number included all properties, counting townhomes, apartments, condos, lots and lands, single-family and multi-family homes.

While Florida generally has a higher number of properties for sales than most other states, because of its size and the number of vacation homes on the market, the state has seen an increase in activities in recent months, experts told Newsweek.

This increase, according to Florida Realtors chief economist Brad O'Connor, is likely linked to the fact that many homeowners in the Sunshine State who had been avoiding selling their properties because of high mortgages now believe rates won't climb any further.

"I think people are now more comfortable with the fact that interest rates are up here to stay," O'Connor previously told Newsweek. "I think initially when rates rose quickly, people were uncertain as to where they would go from there. But now we're pretty much in a situation where I think everyone is comfortable with the idea that rates are probably going to stay about where they're at, or they're going to decline somewhat in the next year or two."

Lawrence Yun, chief economist and senior vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, previously told Newsweek that many homeowners are likely trying to take advantage of the high home price appreciation the state has experienced in the past three years.

"Some people may be cashing out," Yun said, adding that skyrocketing insurance premiums might also have played a role in pushing people to sell. "Property insurance readjustments—like any other added cost of ownership—will induce some additional sellers," he said. "Some retired homeowners on fixed income could be forced to sell."

Home insurance premiums have climbed by 102 percent in the past three years, according to the Insurance Information Institute, as the risk of extreme weather events is growing with climate change and several private insurers have pulled out of the state or stopped offering new policies.