Brad O'Connor directly addresses camera:  A new year is upon us, and we already have one month under our belt. So how did Florida's housing market fare in January?  Let's take a look at the latest market data published by Florida Realtors.

Sales of single-family homes were up year-over-year for the second consecutive month in January, rising by over 3.5%. The last time single-family sales went up for two straight months was back in January and February of last year.  New pending sales of single-family homes, on the other hand, were down by just over 4% in January compared to a year ago, signaling that our little closed sales streak might be coming to an end in February. We'll have to wait and see.

Closed sales of condos and townhouses were down year-over-year by double-digit percentages last August through November, but in December they were only down by 0.5%. January 2025's figure was closer to that one, with sales down 3.7% compared to a year ago. New pending sales in this property type category, however, were down close to 14%, so we continue to see relative weakness in demand in this market segment relative to single-family homes.

The arrival of a new year usual brings with it a revival in the rate of homes being listed for sale, and that was certainly the case this January. Over 35,500 single-family homes were listed for sale in Florida in January, which is the most we've seen in any month since July 2022. The closest we got last year was in April, when we had roughly 34,300 new listings. On a year-over-year basis, new listings of single-family homes were up close to 15.5%.

Year-over-year growth in new listings of condos and townhouses was a little more muted in January, coming in at 6.7%. But this belies the fact that these nearly 18,900 new listings broke the record for the most condo and townhouse new listings we've ever had in a single month—at least as far back as January 2008 when we started tracking them. Coincidentally, the roughly 18,300 new listings that occurred in January 2008 was the previous record for this property type category. Geographically, most of this January's growth was concentrated in Southwest Florida and from First Coast down to the Treasure Coast. By contrast, growth in South Florida was relatively weak, although certainly there were pockets of higher listing activity in certain parts of this broad metro area that are washed out in these county-level statistics.

With growth in new listings continuing to outpace sales, inventory levels were up again in January. The number of active listings at the end of the month was as high as it's been since August of 2012 for single-family homes, and November of 2011 for condos and townhouses. One key difference between the market of that time period and the current time period, however, is that today, a much smaller share of sellers are in a situation where they absolutely have to sell their home. A large share of homes listed in 2011 and 2012 were distressed properties, which today are exceedingly rare. Sure, some of today's sellers might have to move their property quickly due to recent life events like a job opportunity elsewhere or a divorce, but that's always the case no matter where the market is at. Right now, there's simply a lot of homeowners that are under little pressure to sell quickly who are more willing to hold out for a bid to their liking.

This seems to be reflected in the price statistics for January. The median price for closed sales of single-family homes was up by 1.2%, rising to $410,000. Over in the condo and townhouse category, where demand remains weaker relative to the single-family side of the market, the median sale price was down, but only by 2.3%, falling to $312,500. We'll want to watch inventory levels as we traverse the spring buying season to see if they keep rising. If they do, then perhaps some of these sellers holding out for higher offers will see their resolve weaken enough to let their homes go. At the same time, though, some sellers may just decide to pack it in and de-list their properties for the time being, which would be a moderating factor in inventory growth.

As you all know, Florida Realtors offers a wide range of other metrics for review, both statewide and locally. Florida Realtors members can access the latest statistics on the interactive SunStats web application, and statewide statistics are available to everyone to see at floridarealtors.org. Thanks for watching—we'll see you next month!