Florida’s Housing Market Stalls as Connecticut Surges

By Hugh McQuaid

October 15 @ 5:00 am

As demand for homes in Connecticut continues to outpace supply, the Wall Street Journal published a new report this week detailing a sputtering housing market in Florida, where homes are increasingly hard to sell due to declining interest from buyers.

Connecticut’s popularity among prospective homebuyers has helped to fuel a housing shortage that has contributed to a surging home market.

Real estate brokerage Redfin estimates that the number of homes sold in the state increased 1.1% over the last year as median home prices grew by 8%. Meanwhile, the site reported that Connecticut homes spent a median of about 33 days on the market before they were snatched up by buyers.

Compare those numbers to Florida, where Redfin estimated that a median home spent more than two months on the market — an increase of about 18 days in just the last year — while median home prices declined.

Why are homes in Florida increasingly hard to sell?

According to the Wall Street Journal, high mortgage rates and spiking insurance costs have made Florida’s once-booming housing market unaffordable and undesirable for many families.

The WSJ interviewed Anthony Holmes, a former Virginia resident who moved to Tampa in 2021. Holmes told the newspaper he was now looking to leave Florida, but had been unable to sell his house, despite making tens of thousands of dollars in home improvements and cutting his asking price multiple times.

“I can’t unload the thing,” Holmes told the Wall Street Journal. “In eight months, I’ve had zero offers. No one even showed up to the open houses. Nobody.”

As climate change has contributed to more frequent and severe weather events, Florida has experienced an increasing number of destructive storms.

Damage wrought by these storms has made homes in Florida difficult to insure. In some areas of Florida, insurance premiums have increased as much as 400% in just the last five years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

While Florida struggles with waning interest from homebuyers, Connecticut Democrats have committed to encouraging more housing development in order to meet the needs of the growing number of families wishing to reside in the state.

Last month, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas explained the need to promote more development in order to support Connecticut’s economic growth.

“Our nation is in the midst of a housing crisis, and the only real solution is to build more homes and welcome more neighbors into our communities,” the majority leaders wrote. “Here in Connecticut, we have a responsibility to be part of that solution.”