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Florida Single-Family Market, August 2026: Fewer Listings, Faster Contracts, Distressed Volume Climbing
05 October 2026 · SFR Capital
Florida Realtors released its August 2026 single-family figures on September 16. Read quickly, it looks like a softening market: closings are down and the median barely moved. Read properly, it is a market with materially less to buy, trading faster, with a small distressed segment growing quickly and getting cheaper. Those are different things, and the second one is the one that matters to anyone lending on a rehab.
Statewide, August 2026 versus August 2025
| Measure | Aug 2026 | Aug 2025 | Change |
|---|
| Closed sales | 21,497 | 21,798 | −1.4% |
| Paid in cash | 5,782 | 5,907 | −2.1% |
| Median sale price | $415,000 | $410,000 | +1.2% |
| Average sale price | $607,238 | $584,920 | +3.8% |
| Dollar volume | $13.1 billion | $12.8 billion | +2.4% |
| Median % of original list price received | 96.0% | 94.8% | +1.3 pts |
| Median time to contract | 44 days | 51 days | −13.7% |
| Median time to sale | 84 days | 90 days | −6.7% |
| New pending sales | 22,522 | 23,164 | −2.8% |
| New listings | 27,411 | 27,763 | −1.3% |
| Pending inventory | 29,619 | 29,401 | +0.7% |
| Inventory (active listings) | 94,610 | 108,762 | −13.0% |
| Months supply of inventory | 4.3 | 5.3 | −18.9% |
The number under the number
Closed sales fell 1.4%. Active inventory fell 13.0% — nearly ten times as fast. Months supply went from 5.3 to 4.3, which is the difference between a market Florida Realtors would describe as balanced-to-soft and one that is tilted back toward sellers. Median time to contract dropped a full week, from 51 days to 44.
So sales are not down because demand collapsed. They are down because there is less on the market, and what comes on is going under contract a week sooner than it did a year ago. The median share of original list price received rose to 96.0%, its own small confirmation: sellers are discounting less than they were.
The distressed segment, which is where the opportunity is
| Segment | Closed sales Aug 2026 | Change YoY | Median price | Change YoY |
|---|
| Traditional | 21,202 | −1.8% | $417,500 | +1.8% |
| Foreclosure / REO | 196 | +29.8% | $250,000 | −22.5% |
| Short sale | 99 | +90.4% | $300,000 | +1.6% |
Keep the base rate in mind before anyone calls this a wave: 295 distressed closings out of 21,497 is 1.4% of the market. It is small. But it is growing while the traditional market shrinks, and the foreclosure/REO median fell 22.5% year over year to $250,000 — $167,500 below the traditional median in the same month.
That spread is the story. A year ago the typical foreclosure/REO sale closed at $322,450 against a traditional median of $410,000, a gap of $87,550. This August the gap was $167,500. Distressed Florida inventory is not just more plentiful than last year, it is pricing further below the ordinary market than it was.
What it means if you are buying or lending
- Acquisition windows are shorter. Forty-four days to contract statewide means a financing contingency that takes three weeks is a real competitive disadvantage, not a paperwork detail.
- The discount is in the distressed channel, and it widened. If your buy box is traditional resale, you are competing in a market where sellers are getting 96% of original list.
- Less inventory cuts both ways on exit. Thinner supply supports your resale price, and it also means fewer comparable sales to underwrite against. We value the parcel against the county roll and recent arm's-length sales for exactly this reason.
SFR Capital lends on Florida residential investment property, business purpose, first lien, and underwrites the property and the sponsor's public record rather than a credit file. If a deal in this market needs a lender who can move inside a 44-day clock, that is the whole point of how we are built.
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SFR Capital LLC (SFR) is a private lender, license exempt under Fla. Stat. § 494.00115. SFR only makes business purpose mortgage loans on non-owner occupied Florida investment property. Nothing here is an offer or commitment to lend. All loans are subject to SFR approval of the sponsor, property collateral, title and documentation.