Florida buyers move ahead without waiting on mortgage rates
Florida home sales and pending sales continued to rise in July, suggesting buyers are moving forward even as the mortgage-rate advantage they had earlier this year fades.
Florida buyers are on the move again, and increasingly, they're doing it without waiting for mortgage rates to fall.
Single-family closed sales rose just over 5% from a year earlier, marking the 11th straight month of year-over-year gains, while new pending sales climbed nearly 2.5% for their 12th consecutive increase.
What makes that streak stand out is that the mortgage-rate advantage buyers had earlier this year is fading. In January and February, rates were nearly a full percentage point below where they had been a year earlier. That gap has since narrowed considerably as rates moved higher.
Even so, buyers are still signing contracts and closing deals.
“The last couple of months of data give us hope that it's not just mortgage rates that have been driving demand in Florida, but also pent-up demand from buyers who no longer wish to sit out waiting for affordability in the Sunshine State to return to 2019 levels,” Florida Realtors® Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor said.
That could become increasingly important in the months ahead. O’Connor said mortgage rates are likely to be higher than year-ago levels within the next month or two, even under optimistic scenarios.
At the same time, more buyers may be accepting that 2019-level affordability isn’t coming back anytime soon.
“The writing has been on the wall for a few years now that that's not going to happen any time soon, and every day, more and more potential buyers have been coming to terms with this and getting back into the market,” O’Connor said.
The next number to watch is new pending sales, which generally provide an early look at where closed sales could be headed over the following month or two, he said.
© 2026 Florida Realtors®