Florida housing inventory near pre-pandemic norms, economist says

Growing inventory in parts of Florida has started to fuel comparisons to the housing crash, but statewide numbers suggest the market remains much closer to historical norms than crisis territory.

Florida Realtors® Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor said inventory levels today look far more like the balanced conditions Florida experienced before the pandemic than the oversupply that defined the 2008 foreclosure crisis and Great Recession.

He said current inventory trends more closely resemble the period from roughly 2014 through early 2020, when Florida’s housing market operated under more typical seasonal patterns and steadier buyer demand.

“At this juncture, our active inventory of single-family homes is only a little over 7% higher than it was at this time in 2019,” O’Connor said during Florida Realtors’ April housing market update.

Condo and townhouse inventory remains somewhat higher statewide, sitting nearly 16% above April 2019 levels. But O’Connor said that still falls well short of the inventory surge Florida experienced after the housing crash, when distressed properties flooded the market and supply ballooned.

Some of today’s inventory concerns may also stem from how differently homes moved during the pandemic-era market frenzy. At that time, properties sold so quickly that many listings never remained active long enough to appear in monthly inventory counts. As sales activity normalizes, homes are simply staying on the market longer, making inventory appear larger even without a dramatic increase in supply.

That shift has made days-on-market an increasingly important number to watch.

O’Connor noted that the average time single-family homes spent on the market in April tracked almost identically to both April 2019 and April 2025. But while 2019 remained relatively stable, 2025 saw inventory rise sharply later in the year as homes took longer to sell.

Which direction 2026 ultimately follows remains uncertain. Still, O’Connor said current inventory trends are not pointing toward major price swings statewide.

“With inventory continuing to stabilize, we don’t have much expectation of significant shifts in home prices any time soon, and the price statistics continue to reflect this,” he said.

For Realtors, the historical context may matter as much as the raw inventory numbers themselves. Buyers and sellers reacting to headlines about rising supply may assume the market is heading toward another crash, even though statewide conditions remain far removed from the oversupply levels seen during the Great Recession.

Being able to explain how today’s inventory compares with both 2019 and prior downturns may help customers better understand what is actually happening in the market and make more measured housing decisions.

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