Northeast Florida home prices jump while sales sputter in June

Home sales in NE Florida are a bit sluggish.

The First Coast housing market had a mixed bag of data in June as the cost of a home climbed to record highs, according to new figures released by the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR).

The median price for a home in the six-county region continued an upward trend into record highs. The median cost increased to $405,000 in June, according to the NEFAR analysis released this week.

That’s a 1.3% increase over the May figure of $400,000, the first time the median price of a home ever climbed to $400,000 for the region. The June figure is also 3.8% higher than the June 2023 median price of $390,000.

Meanwhile, closed housing sales dropped in June for Northeast Florida. There were 1,097 total closed home sales last month. It’s a notable drop compared to recent history. The June figure is a 10.7% decline from May’s closed home sales number of 2,137, and a more significant 14.7% decline in sales from June 2023, when there were 2,236 closed purchases.

Another sign that sales are sluggish is the number of days homes for sale are sitting on the market. Across the First Coast, homes for sale were on the market for a median 39 days. That’s a 30% increase from the May figure of 30 days and a notable 14.7% jump from June 2023, when homes for sale sat on the market for 34 days before being sold.

Northeast Florida’s most populated county also saw some notable drops, indicating a stagnant market. Duval County, home to Jacksonville, recorded a median home sale price of $340,900, a 1.2% drop from May’s median home sale price but up by 1.8% from June 2023.

Closed home sales were also down in Duval County, with 913 deals. But that’s down by 12.6% from May and is a steep 17.2% decline from June 2023. The days a home for sale remained on the market spiked by 54.5% compared to May, rising to 34. That figure was also up by 13.3% from June 2023.

St. Johns County, one of the fastest growing counties in the country, saw more encouraging signs in the housing market. The median home sale price was $579,900 in June, up from May by 2.6% and also an increase of 5.2% from June 2023.

But closed home sales also sputtered in the county that is home to tourism-rich St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra Beach. There were 573 closed home sales in St. Johns in June, down by 9.6% from May and a 3.7% fall from June 2023. The median days on the market for home sales also jumped to 51 in June, up by 20.2% from May and a steep 48.5% increase from June 2023.

Nassau County, the northernmost county in the region bordering Georgia, saw similar trends, with the median home sale price increasing to $475,000, a 13.4% increase over May and an 18.3% increase from June 2023. But closed home sales also dropped to 113 for the month, a decrease of 18.7% from May and a 10.3% decline from June 2023.

The one data point that was slightly more encouraging for Nassau was the number of days on the market for a home for sale. That figure was 48 days, the same as May and actually a 9.4% drop from June 2023.

Clay County, to the west of Jacksonville, had a decrease in the median home sale price to $360,000, down by 0.5% from May and 1.2% from June 2023. Closed sales also dropped to 257 in June, down by 2.7% from May and a notable 22.8% decline from June 2023.

The number of days for a home remaining on the market in Clay increased slightly to 44, a 12.8% increase from May and a 4.8% increase from a year ago.

Baker County witnessed a substantial jump in median home sale price to $400,000 in June, up by 32.2% over May and a 38.4% increase over June 2023. But Baker, a largely rural county, saw only 13 closed sales in June, down by 27.8% from May and a 43.5% drop from June 2023. The number of days a house remained on the market increased to 56, a 40% jump from May and a 28.7% increase from a year ago.

Putnam County saw the median home sale price increase to $271,000, a 4.2% increase from May and a 4% jump from a year ago. Closed home sales for the month actually increased to 28, a 2.7% improvement from May but a 32.1% drop from a year ago. The number of days a home for sale was on the market decreased in Putnam to 21, a 27.6% decrease from May and a 44.7% drop from June 2023.