The summer market “remains tipped in favor of sellers,” according to realtor.com’s economist. In three Fla. metros, real estate is almost back to early 2020 levels.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Summer 2020 is shaping up to be a very competitive market for buyers thanks to record-low interest rates and scarce inventory, according to realtor.com’s Weekly Recovery Report for the week ending July 11.

The U.S. housing market appears to rapidly growing closer to the break-even point, when the current market will reflect strength similar to the market in early 2020.

An index of 100 would indicate that the real estate market is showing similar strength to the January 2020 market, and the July 11 Housing Market Recovery Index for the U.S. was 98.5.

In Florida, one of the four metros measured in the study, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, is less than a point down at 99.1.

“Today’s market remains tipped in favor of sellers as would-be spring buyers are shopping well into what would normally be summer vacation season,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com. “Homebuyers trying to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates and make up for lost time are finding limited and more expensive options. Although sellers are slowly acclimating to this unexpected surge in buyer interest, inventory is still lagging behind demand which is driving quick time on market and listing price growth on par with this time last summer.”

Florida real estate metros Recovery Market Index

The top U.S. recovery metro according to realtor.com is Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, which is operating at 115.5 – well above the baseline of 100. At the bottom of the list, No. 50, is Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin, with an index score of 85.9.

21. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater: 99.1 – up 2.6 week-to-week

23. Jacksonville: 97.4 – down 2.9 week-to-week

24. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford: 97.3 – down 1.4 week-to-week

38. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach: 94.4 – down 0.8 week-to-week

Report findings

• The national 98.5 reading for the week ending July 11 is a 0.7 point increase week-to-week.

• The West (104.6) continues to lead the recovery with the overall index now above the pre-COVID benchmark. The Northeast (102.6) also surpassed the recovery baseline last week, and continues to improve. The South (96.3) and Midwest (95.3) are still lagging and lost some recovery momentum.

• New listings dropped 19% as the tight inventory problem continues and even grew worse in the latest report, though the timing of the 4th of July holiday may have played a part.

• Total inventory was down 32%.

• Median listing prices advertised on realtor.com’s website continued growing and were 7.9% over last year. That rate of increase is higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Time on market dropped by one day.

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