TAMPA — While condo
prices in Florida have been dropping in some parts of
Florida, there hasn't been a mass influx of home buyers to
those properties as homeowners insurance and increasing HOA
fees are still keeping those wanting to buy away, according
to new numbers from Redfin.
NEW DATA FROM REDFIN
The Redfin study found the median sale price in the Tampa
metro area for condos dropped 1% year-over-year, but sales
fell 4.1% in the same time frame, and new listings jumped
27.3%.
It was the same story in nearly every city Redfin looked at
in the analysis.
The Orlando metro area saw sales jump 6.6% in the last year.
Still, even with the jump in sales, new listings rose in
Orlando by 23.3% year-over-year. North Port was the only
city where median sale prices for condos rose, coming in at
7.1%
For comparison, nationally, Redfin found the median sale
prices of condos rose 8.4% annually, with pending sales also
rising 8.4% and new listings checking in at 11.1%.
Redfin said the home insurance costs exploding over the last
few years has been one of the biggest driving forces of the
home sales market. But, Redfin said HOA fees are also
soaring.
The Redfin survey found that HOA fee rate hikes have been
tied to new regulations put in place in the state after the
2021 Surfside condo collapse.
PRICED OUT OF PARADISE
It's something Venice condo owner Karen Shipman emailed ABC
Action News about, worried she may soon be priced out of her
condo she and her husband bought to retire here as their
last home.
"Sometimes I'm not sure this will be our last home because
our condo fees have gone up, and mainly insurance is a big
factor," Shipman said.
Typically condo owners have to cover two types of insurance:
1) Their individual property insurance for their condo which
is called an HO6 policy 2) and through their HOA in what's
called a Master Condo Association Policy.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, Master
Condo Association Policies are increasing by 100-500% right
now.
"It all gets passed down to the homeowners," Shipman said.
A REALTOR'S PERSPECTIVE
Barbara Schmal is a Tampa Bay area broker associate who says
condos are increasingly becoming harder to sell.
"I have never seen it
this bad," Schmal said. "We do open houses, we can't get
people to come to open houses, none of the agents that have
buyers are even wanting to show the property, and it's
making our sellers very, very nervous."
She provided numbers that show right now there are 2,660
condos on the market in Pinellas County, of those 869 are in
55+ communities.
"I currently have 5 listings in the 55 and older
communities, the longest one I have on the market, which I
listed back in August; it's been on the market for 151 days,
and we've had 3 showings," Schmal said.
A report from the
Florida Realtors shows that the slowing condo market is
bringing down prices; the median price of a condo in January
2024 was listed at $205,000 dollars compared to the median
price of $220,000 in January 2023. |
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