The prolonged slump in North Florida housing sales saw another round of decreasing closings in November.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR) published its monthly report on home sales in the six-county region this week. Not only were there sluggish home sales on the First Coast last month, but the inventory of houses on the market is growing larger.
Despite those lagging figures, the median price for homes inched up to $392,000, a 5% increase compared to both October’s figure and November 2023’s price tag of about $390,000.
There were 1,392 homes sold across the First Coast in November, a notable 12.3% drop from the October figure of 1,587. It’s also down by 4.1% from November 2023 when 1,452 homes were sold in the six counties on Florida’s First Coast.
While home sales have fallen for most months this year in Northeast Florida, there are more houses piling up on the market. The active inventory of homes for sale on the First Coast market amounted to 7,645, up by 7.5% over the October figure of 7,645 and a whopping 67% climb over the November 2023 inventory count of 4,578 homes.
Meanwhile, the median number of days a home stays on the market before being sold is increasing, indicating a “seller’s market” may be on the wane. In November, the median number of days on the market for home for sale was 53, a 12.8% jump from October’s number of 53 and a brutal 20% hike from November 2023, when the figure was 44 days.
Duval County, home to Jacksonville and the most populous county on the First Coast, reflected the regional trends with 681 closed home sales in November, down 17% from October when there were 820 homes sold and a 1.9% decline from November 2023. The median home sale price also tumbled a bit, coming in at $326,000, a 2.2% fall from October and a 1.8% fall from a year ago.
Duval’s inventory of homes for sale also saw wild fluctuations, with 3,723 homes in the active inventory, a 10.4% increase from October and a staggering 80.7% jump from November 2023.
St. Johns County, one of the nation’s fastest growing counties, also saw a drop in home sales. There were 377 closed sales of dwellings in the county that is home to tourism-rich St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra Beach. That’s a 5% decline from October and a 15.1% drop from November 2023.
The median sales price for a St. Johns County home had mixed results coming in at $525,000, which is a 4.5% dip from October but a 1.9% increase from November 2023. The county saw the median price exceed $600,000 in the past year.
Nassau County saw 76 closed sales of homes in November, a 13.6% decline compared to October and a 3.8% drop from November 2023.
The interior counties of the First Coast fared a bit better, but not by much. Clay County had 216 homes sold in November, down by 7.7% from October but an 11.9% increase from November 2023.
Putnam County saw 28 closed sales on homes in November, a 24.3% decrease from October but a 22.7% increase from November 2023.
And Baker County, the First Coast’s least populous county, saw only 14 closed housing sales in November, a 27.3% increase from October, but a 22.2% drop from November 2023.