One day in mid-September, real-estate agent Mike Gagliardi was asked about the condominium market. He checked and found that in the previous 24 hours, 60 separate condo units for sale in the Daytona Beach area had dropped their asking prices.

Supply is in pursuit of demand, resulting in a condo sales slowdown.

And, sure, much of it can be attributed to the damage from the 2022 hurricanes, soaring property insurance rates and new assessments for many owners, sometimes in the thousands. But another factor is election uncertainty, Gagliardi and other observers said. “We’ve got so many people on the sidelines that are saying that,” Gagliardi said. “Really, whoever’s in office is not going to affect the market like they think it is. It’s just for their well-being mentally for where they feel is comfortable.” Dennis Almand — a Eustis businessman who has bought three Daytona Beach Shores condos within the last four years and is also trying to sell 276 acres in Georgia — said he’s seen that hesitancy among would-be buyers and it has to do with whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be president. “Everybody’s waiting until after the elections to do anything,” Almand said. “I think they’re waiting for Trump to get in there. Let me tell you: The big money people are not spending money.” Interest rates and perhaps even politics may be slowing the market but what’s motivating so many condo owners to sell in 2024 are assessments being levied by condo associations. Legislation following the 2021 Champlain Towers condo collapse in Surfside was enacted requiring associations to do regular inspections and fortify reserves.

A wall of high-rise condominiums line State Road A1A in Daytona Beach Shores. Many were built in the 1970s and 1980s, and a new state law is requiring the owners' associations to require assessments to conduct inspections and bolster reserves, in accordance with a law that followed the Champlain Towers disaster in Surfside in 2021.

 

Gagliardi, team lead for the Mike Gagliardi Team with Re/Max, said the current inventory on the market is estimated to sell in 14-15 months, making it a buyer’s market. A seller’s market is six months’ inventory or less.

“We’re just not getting any buyer activity,” he said.

“Last year, about 50% of our deals were cash. We’re slowly seeing that transition away,” he said. “It seems like the people with the cash are holding onto it.”

While he said values “haven’t really plummeted,” he expects to see a reduction in the average costs to show up in statistics soon.

In Volusia County, condo sales are on pace for a year-over-year decline in 2024, according to numbers crunched by Mark Wright, director of real estate for the Property Appraiser's Office.

Almand, who sold one of his three condos, taking a $10,000 loss, said he didn't mind. The other two were upgrades and the fulfillment of a dream. His wife, two children and four grandkids love the ocean.

"You mention the beach, man," he said, "and we're going."