Florida’s real estate market is not looking very sunny.
Nine markets are seeing five-digit drops in home value, and the median loss is $10,157 from January 2025 to January 2026, according to Realtor.com® data.
While ritzy towns like Manalapan and Palm Beach make headlines for their astronomical prices, the average Florida resident is struggling with loss of equity.
Punta Gorda has seen the biggest percentage drop at -7.97%, with a median $26,624 plunge in value. This tracks with Punta Gorda’s profit margin loss, down from 88.3% to 58% in the third quarter of 2025, the second largest in the country (only Ocala, FL, saw a bigger loss).
Following Punta Gorda was Cape Coral-Fort Myers; North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota; Naples-Marco Island; Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor; Lakeland-Winter Haven; Port St. Lucie; Wildwood-The Villages; Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach; and Homosassa Springs.
Of the 29 metro areas analyzed, only four—Arcadia ($511), Palatka ($635), Clewiston ($1,335), and Lake City ($2,427)—saw a gain.
Why are prices dropping?
“There are two main things that contribute to this drop in home value,” explains Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com. “The first is that the market is still just correcting itself from the dramatic runup in prices during the post-pandemic buying frenzy. This correction has been slow and painful, but homes are getting back to the values they should be at and are becoming more affordable to buyers.”
“The second is weak housing demand,” he adds. “High prices have kept buyers from being able to afford homes and many have dropped out of the market, allowing listings to sit for sale for longer and get their prices cut.”
“You’re seeing a settling of the disconnect between sellers still having pandemic-era pricing aspirations, and buyers seeing more inventory and feeling armed with more leverage to make offers that are below list,” Douglas Elliman agent Michael Merrill, who services No. 5 ranked Vero Beach, tells Realtor.com.
“As sellers lose their leverage in this environment, they’re getting more realistic in their pricing,” he says. “And that’s all anyone is asking for—a fair deal and fair pricing.”
He notes that a buyer looking in an exclusive, gated enclave like St. John’s Island Club, with a median price tag of $4.65 million, is going to have a different experience from those shopping elsewhere in the metro area, which has a median list price of $357,379, according to Realtor.com data.
“Single-family homes are still propped up with low inventory, we haven’t seen a pullback,” he says, but he notes that there has been a softening in the condo market, where an owner is more likely to be hit with rising HOA costs.
The median HOA fee rose from $125 per month in 2024 to $135 in 2025, representing an 8% year-over-year increase, according to a Realtor.com report.
“The reason the homes have lost value is higher inventory, less migration to the area, and sellers overpricing the homes,” Brenden Rendo, a strategic real estate adviser at Real Estate Bees who serves Central Florida, tells Realtor.com.
He notes that 40% of listings are staying on the market more than 90 days and sellers are “getting frustrated and canceling the listing or not renewing.”
“This past week in Daytona (No. 9) alone there were 210 listings over 90 days with an average of 244 days on the market,” he says.
The silver lining for the Sunshine State
Is there a silver lining in the sunny state? Sure, if you’re a buyer.
“This shift has opened the door to more strategic negotiations,” Sarasota-based Douglas Elliman agent Joel Schemmel tells Realtor.com “Sellers who price strategically are still seeing strong activity, and buyers have room to be selective, making this a very balanced market.”
Merrill agrees, saying “I will tell you activity is up significantly with the number of properties sold year over year. For pending and sold for January, it is more than double from the same period last year.”
As for who is the most unrealistic in their price hopes, he says, “It’s more on the sell side. [They] want to use what [their] neighbor got or what the comps looked like three years ago, and the market doesn’t care about that. The market cares about today.”
Punta Gorda, FL
Percentage drop: 7.97%
Median value drop: $26,624
Median home list price: $309,053
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Percentage drop: 7.26%
Median value drop: $27,499
Median home list price: $353,699
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota
Percentage drop: 6.73%
Median value drop: $29,264
Median home list price: $403,268
Naples-Marco Island
Percentage drop: 5.70%
Median value drop: $34,947
Median home list price: $581,475
Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor
Percentage drop: 4.22%
Median value drop: $15,755
Median home list price: $357,379
Lakeland-Winter Haven
Percentage drop: 3.72%
Median value drop: $11,674
Median home list price: $301,594
Port St. Lucie
Percentage drop: 3.71%
Median value drop: $14,724
Median home list price: $382,467
Wildwood-The Villages
Percentage drop: 3.69%
Median value drop: $14,997
Median home list price: $391,404
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach
Percentage drop: 3.57%
Median value drop: $12,139
Median home list price: $357,251
Homosassa Springs
Percentage drop: 2.98%
Median value drop: $8,333
Median home list price: $273,124