Florida Property Values Nose Dive

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Property values aren't doing well—to put it mildly.

The biggest year-over-year decrease was in Hilo, Hawaii, where homeowners' margins dropped from 80.5% in Q2 2023 to 45.3% in Q2 2024. Following Hilo were Port St. Lucie, Florida (down from 95% to 73.9%); Daphne-Fairhope, Alabama (down from 49.8% to 34%); Crestview-Fort Walton Beach, Florida (down from 60.7% to 45.1%); and Naples, Florida (down from 84.9% to 69.2%).

ATTOM experts noted that higher-end housing markets, where home values mostly topped $350,000, saw the most significant declines. About three-quarters of these areas experienced reduced margins compared to about half of the lower-priced markets.

Typical profit margins increased from Q1 to Q2 in 94 of the 160 metropolitan areas analyzed by ATTOM. However, margins remained low in 100 of these metros.

At the national level, typical profit margins stayed mostly unchanged from Q1 to Q2, with home sellers earning a 55.8% profit margin on typical single-family home and condo sales between April and June. This stability in margins comes despite rising home prices across the U.S. According to Redfin, the median sale price of a home in June was $442,479, up 4% compared to a year earlier. Prices have been growing year-over-year since July 2023, when the modest price correction of the housing market ended.

In Florida, cities like North Port and Cape Coral are seeing falling prices due to growing inventory, making it harder for homeowners to profit from their properties. For example, the median sale price in Crestview was $298,345 in June, down 9.59% year-over-year. In Fort Walton, prices were up 6.4% year-over-year in June, at $372,500. In Naples, the median price was $707,500 in June, down 3.1% compared to a year earlier. Port St. Lucie saw a median sale price of $417,165 in June, up 5.6% year-over-year. At the state level, Florida's median sale price was up 2.3% year-over-year in June, at $419,000.

The biggest year-over-year improvements in returns on investment were recorded in Syracuse, New York (margin up from 51.6% in Q2 2023 to 71.8% in Q2 2024); Rockford, Illinois (up from 54.8% to 74.5%); Scranton, Pennsylvania (up from 79.9% to 97.7%); Lansing, Michigan (up from 50.1% to 62.7%); and Roanoke, Virginia (up from 45.1% to 56.1%).

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