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A once-hot pandemic-era housing market is cooling with sales declines and inventory increases

By
Emily Davis
Published April 18, 2025, 4:27 p.m. ET

Balmy South Florida is in some hot water. 

Residential sales are slowing across the country, but the double-digit sales declines and inventory increases across this Sunshine State region — a market that especially heated up in the pandemic years — are pronounced. Condo sales fell in the first quarter of this year in Miami Beach and across the barrier islands, according to a new report by Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman. 

The new report, covered by the Real Deal, aligns with a growing picture of South Florida as a housing market catching its breath, as insurance rates and property taxes strain owners and scare away buyers spoiled for choice.

Florida sellers are learning that the post-2020 whirlwind is winding down.
Florida sellers are learning that the post-2020 whirlwind is winding down. AFP via Getty Images

A major homebuilder in Florida warned investors in late March that company KB Home would have to slash prices by more than $30,000 in Florida to improve business in the poor-performing market, Realtor.com reported.  

In Miami-Dade County, the number of newly signed contracts for single-family homes and condos declined in March for the third consecutive time, despite an increase in new listings.

Sales remained on a solid trajectory in Palm Beach, however. There, newly signed contracts on single-family homes have increased year-over-year since the election, according to the Elliman report. Soaring luxury home sales in the wealthy enclave were dubbed a “Trump bump” in December.

Simon Isaacs, CEO and founder of Simon Isaacs Real Estate, told The Post that while the Palm Beach market has seen a healthy increase in buyers, some sellers’ expectations there still need to be tempered by the fact that there’s more inventory to compete with.

South Florida buyers are more spoiled for choice than they have been in the recent past.
South Florida buyers are more spoiled for choice than they have been in the recent past. Getty Images

“A number of the houses that are under contract in Palm Beach are under contract at prices a lot lower than they were,” Isaacs said. “Because people had unrealistic expectations of what their properties were worth, whether that’s owners or developers.”

Issacs characterized South Florida as a normalizing market, rather than a troubled one.

“They [buyers] are more conscious of the state of the world, the economic situation, insurance, real estate taxes and then mortgage rates, for sure,” Isaacs said.

Condo sales in the southern region of the Sunshine State have been a particular subject of recent market anxieties. The state’s condo inventory was at an all-time high early in the year, as new supply outpaced demand, natural disasters racked up insurance rates and new statewide safety regulations caused HOA fees to soar.

Condo sales across the barrier islands — which includes locales like Sunny Isles Beach, Key Biscayne and Surfside — dropped alongside single-family home sales.

The luxury market wasn’t spared, either. Despite successes in Palm Beach, luxury contracts and new listings priced over $1 million in Miami-Dade County and Broward County trended down.