The sprawling senior community of The Villages, FL, boomed during the pandemic, drawing retirees in droves despite viral rumors—some later debunked—about residents’ wild sexual escapades, but new data suggests the Sunshine State enclave may be losing some of its appeal.
Real estate agents in the region say The Villages can be a polarizing town that is not a universal fit. After living there for a few years, some residents look to relocate to more laid-back senior condo communities, or move closer to the beach.
“I have seen people move there and love it, almost like Disney World for adults, and others quickly realize it is not for them,” Cara Ameer, real estate broker at Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty in Florida, tells Realtor.com®.
Listings climbed in The Villages from early 2022 through spring 2025, peaking at 659 last May, according to the latest housing data analysis from Realtor.com.
Over the last seven months, local listings have edged down but remain well above pre-pandemic levels. In December, there were 521 homes for sale in The Villages, with the median listing price recorded at roughly $365,000.
For context, at the height of the pandemic-era boom in May 2022, just 118 properties were listed there, with a typical asking price of $447,000.
“Ample for-sale inventory relative to demand means that each listing is getting less attention compared to the pandemic-era frenzy,” says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. “Listing viewership is also lower than pre-pandemic norms, though not significantly.”
Jones says several factors are weighing on demand in The Villages, including elevated inventory levels and higher borrowing costs that have made homes in the community less affordable for budget buyers.
“At the same time, the market is undergoing a natural correction after several years of rapid price appreciation,” she adds. “These local dynamics are reinforced by broader softening across Florida’s housing markets, where supply has increased and price growth has moderated.”
Based on Realtor.com cross-market data, buyers from The Villages are often looking for homes in Orlando, FL, Tampa, FL, and Ocala, FL. Other metros of interest include Miami, Jacksonville, FL, and Atlanta.
America’s largest master-planned community
Located northwest of Orlando, The Villages started out in the 1970s as a trailer park. Since then, the 55-year-and-older community expanded to encompass 57 square miles.
It currently holds the title of the largest master-planned community in the U.S. with a population of over 150,000 residents.
Like other MPCs, of which there are more than 500 across the nation, The Villages offers local homeowners a dizzying array of lifestyle amenities, including more than 50 golf courses and over 100 recreation centers featuring swimming pools, softball fields, and pickleball, bocce, and tennis courts.
Additionally, residents can choose from more than 3,000 social and hobby-oriented clubs and enjoy such activities as square dancing, water ballet and cheerleading.
A frenzy of clubs and activities
For some, however, all of this is just too much.
Ameer says in late 2024, she helped a couple in their late 70s relocate from The Villages, where they had spent just couple of years, to a 55+ condo community developed by Del Webb Homes in Jacksonville.
The agent explains that for her clients, living in The Villages “‘wasn’t for them’ as far as the lifestyle, all the fees, size of community and not using all of the amenities that you are paying for as part of living there.”
The couple were drawn to the Del Webb condo community for its proximity to the beach, nearby shopping and dining, as well as greater access to medical facilities, including Jacksonville’s large Mayo Clinic campus, which Ameer says is attractive to many retirees.
Karen Borrelli, an agent at John R. Wood Christie’s International Real Estate in Florida, says she has worked with seniors seeking to move from The Villages to Cape Coral, FL, because they wanted to be near the ocean and enjoy local beaches, boating, and tropical weather.
“Having moved from northern states, they found The Villages lovely, but it didn’t quite fulfill their dream of that classic Florida lifestyle, especially because of their love for boating,” Borrelli tells Realtor.com.
On the other hand, Borrelli says she has also dealt with clients who wanted to relocate to The Villages because of its inland location away from the coast in case of a hurricane, showing that choosing a community ultimately comes down to personal preference.
Ameer notes that for home shoppers, it can be hard to know what living in The Villages would be like until they make the move. Some find the community’s rural location too isolating, requiring extended commutes to Tampa or Orlando for shopping, dining, or cultural events.
“It has a very manufactured feel in terms of look and feel, with similar-looking homes that are close to one another,” says the agent, adding that some buyers also come away feeling overwhelmed by The Villages’ lifestyle with its myriad clubhouses, gyms, and golf courses—especially if they do not use most of these amenities.
The Villages’ scandalous reputation
Then there is The Villages’ social aspect, which may not be to everyone’s taste.
“It can feel cliquey, and friend circles may quickly change if someone becomes widowed,” says Ameer. “Some feel the lifestyle revolves around too much drinking and dancing, which is quite popular on their Town Squares.”
And we haven’t even mentioned the infamous “loofah signalling!”
The Villages has long been been the subject of breathless news stories portraying it as a hedonistic playground for the baby boomer generation, where sexually transmitted diseases supposedly run rampant and randy residents with a taste for swinging silently communicate their bedroom preferences using multicolored loofahs attached to car roofs.
While both narratives have since been discredited, they continue to persist online and in the public imagination.