Florida Home Sales Bounce Back From Irma’s Impact

In the year since Hurricane Irma struck Florida, the Sunshine State’s housing market has bounced back with gusto, according to data from Florida Realtors.

 

Sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 21,087 last month, up 17 percent compared to September 2017, while the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $251,610, up 4.9 percent from the previous year. condo-townhouse market, statewide closed sales totaled 8,492 last month, up 14.6 percent compared to a year ago. In the condo-townhouse market, closed sales totaled 8,492 last month, up 14.6 percent compared to a year ago, while the median price was $182,500, up 5.5 percent over the year-ago figure. September was the 81st consecutive month that statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties increased on a year-over-year basis.

 

Nonetheless, the trade group acknowledged that the September data should be viewed with an asterisk.

 

"This September marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Irma carving a path of destruction across the entirety of the Florida peninsula," said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Brad O'Connor. "With most areas of the state out of commission for a week or more, we saw severely depressed levels of closed sales, new pending sales and new listings last September.  For this reason, the year-over-year changes in these three metrics are inflated in this September's data and aren't reflective of current trends."

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