This influx of homes has significantly lengthened the selling periods. For example, houses in Florida now take a median of 73 days to sell, a significant increase from 55 days two years prior, and twice as long as properties in New Jersey and Virginia, according to data from Realtor.com.
“In the big picture, it’s not horrible, but compared to what everyone was used to, it feels like molasses,” said Michael Lauer, a broker in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, where sales have dipped 14% and supply has more than doubled in two years.
Nationally, while the supply of pre-owned homes remains below 2019 levels, nine states across the South and West now exceed those benchmarks, noted Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Drew Reading. Homebuilders in the Sun Belt, who ramped up production during the pandemic-era boom, are now offering price cuts and concessions to move excess inventory.
Market “normalization” and seller challenges
Economists are referring to this buildup of unsold houses as “normalization.” Charlie Dougherty, a senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co., observed, “Inventories have been climbing, but they’ve been climbing out of a hole.”
Despite US home prices generally remaining higher than a year ago, cities like Dallas and Tampa are experiencing declines, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data.