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This is where real estate values ​​in the US have fallen the most this year

This is where real estate values ​​in the US have fallen the most this year

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Two Florida metropolitan areas and the Texas capital of Austin are seeing the biggest declines in U.S. home values ​​so far this year, even as Texas and Florida continue to grow, according to data provided to Forbes by Zillow and S&P CoreLogic, as the cities cool off from pandemic-era gains and benefit from rising supply.

Key data

Cape Coral, Florida: According to data from Zillow and CoreLogic, the southwest Florida metropolis has seen a 1.4% ($395,281) decline in median home value so far this year and a 0.8% drop in home prices from December to April after prices peaked in 2022. That’s due to rising inventory that has given buyers the most negotiating power of any of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.

Austin, Texas: Once the hottest real estate market in the U.S. in the early days of the pandemic, it has since cooled and is continuing that trend this year. According to Zillow, the average home value in Austin fell 1.2% to $466,628 as a boom in construction pushed home inventory 37% above pre-pandemic levels.

North Port, Florida: In a metropolitan area about 45 miles north of Cape Coral, the average home value fell 1 percent to $455,626 and sales prices fell 0.7 percent, Zillow and CoreLogic report. The reason for this is high mortgage rates and rising insurance costs, which led to a drop in demand and a slowdown in price growth.

San Antonio, Texas: The same factors responsible for cooling home prices in Austin also pushed the average home value in San Antonio down 0.6% to $285,511 — one of the few real estate markets that boasts higher inventory than in pre-pandemic years, according to Zillow.

New Orleans, Louisiana: Both the median home value ($241,940) and home prices in New Orleans have fallen by half a percent, according to Zillow and CoreLogic, as the metropolis “never really caught up in the surge in demand that dramatically drove up prices across the rest of the country in the wake of the pandemic,” Amanda Pendleton, a housing trends expert at Zillow, told Forbes.

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Where else are property prices falling?

In addition to Cape Coral, North Port and New Orleans, the Nassau-Suffolk metropolitan area on New York’s Long Island and the Deltona-Daytona-Ormond Beach metropolitan area in Florida have also seen a home price plunge. In Nassau-Suffolk, home prices fell 1.7% from December 2023 to April 2024, as CoreLogic attributed the change to increased supply dampening prices. Home prices in the Deltona-Daytona-Ormond Beach metropolitan area fell 0.2% over the same period. New supply and homes sitting on the metropolitan area’s market longer have triggered a slowdown in price increases.

Important background

According to census data, Texas and Florida were among the fastest-growing states in the U.S., although that growth has slowed somewhat. However, home prices in those states have remained low or stagnant, due in part to an increase in housing supply. According to a report by Redfin, of the 10 metropolitan areas in the country where sellers are most likely to lower home prices, five are in Florida and two are in Texas. Redfin said Texas and Florida have seen a lot of home construction, allowing them to keep up with demand, especially since the pandemic-era population growth spurt has cooled and competition among buyers for housing has eased. Meanwhile, home prices have soared in other Florida cities like Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa, though Zillow still considers them buyers’ markets because of competition for for-sale homes. Nationally, rising interest rates that make loans more expensive are linked to weak home prices, said Molly Boesel, chief economist at CoreLogic. Home appreciation fell in May as competition among homebuyers eased, according to Zillow, which found that the number of new listings by buyers in the U.S. rose 8% in May.

What you should pay attention to

Zillow predicts that home prices nationwide will rise 0.4% this year and fall 1.4% over the next 12 months. The company also expects 4.12 million existing home sales this year, an increase of nearly 1% from last year, according to Zillow.

Further information

Real estate market predictions for 2024: When will home prices be affordable again? (Forbes)

This pandemic-hit boomtown is also a surprisingly wonderful place to retire (Forbes)