A new report warns that Florida cities are at very high risk of a housing market crash or decline.
According to CoreLogic, those cities at risk of a crash include Tampa and West Palm Beach.
Lee and Collier counties have a growing number of homes being dumped onto the market for sale.
The housing market in Southwest Florida is saturated with homes for sale. It’s taking sellers months to sell and creating anxiety for many.
Mike Ruggles of Cape Coral has had his home listed for nearly 50 days and there are still no buyers.
“I figured it would be sluggish and bumps in the road,” Ruggles said.
He’s been watching homes for sale in the neighborhood and realizes it’s been slow going for those trying to sell.
His home is one of 18,000 listed on the market in Lee County in February. A 12% increase over January listings.
“If you're looking for a quick flip, I don't know if that exists anymore, frankly, now in this market,” Ruggles said.
He, like many, may be forced to drop their prices.
“I think it may have to come down before it's over, but I hope not,” Ruggles stated.
Using Zillow data Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, North Port, and Naples top the nation’s 300 areas seeing the fastest falling home prices yearly.
Mario Dormayer owns Top Florida Realtors LLC in downtown Fort Myers and said he has a lot of inventory on the market.
He points to overpriced homes, hard-to-insure homes and rising flood insurance rates as some of the reasons for the slowdown in sales.
“The everyday person with a paycheck just is going to have a much harder time finding an affordable home,” Dormayer said.
Jeff Tumbarello is a broker with Steelbridge Realty and puts it more bluntly.
“We're in a declining market. You have to just call it that,” he stated.
The question now is when does the housing market improve?
“We had such a euphoria here that everybody assumed that euphoria was the new normal. Everything is cyclical,” Tumbarello said.
He said manufactured home sales are even more difficult to sell right now.
“Right now, manufactured homes there is 13 months of inventory,” Tumbarello said.
The grim news is leaving many homeowners like Ruggles who say they’re practicing patience.
No one knows for sure where the market will go next. Some experts say if you're thinking about selling, now may be a good time to do it, but be prepared to wait and if you need to sell, make sure your home is priced according to the current market.