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Wishing you all very happy holidays. Before I take a few weeks off from “blogging” to enjoy the holidays, I thought I’d write a blog on real estate. In the past few weeks, I’ve read some pretty interesting articles about homes that aren’t selling, homes that are selling, and what the future looks like for real estate.
At the end, I also include the current homes on the market for Black Diamond, Pine Ridge and gated Citrus Hills .
Realtor.com forecasts what buyers and sellers can expect in 2026:
- Average 30-year mortgage rates of 6.3%, after higher than expected interest rates in most of 2025, mortgage rates finally relaxed in the second half of the year. We expect mortgage rates to remain roughly in this range throughout 2026. A slowing economic growth and the end of the Fed’s quantitative tightening offset rising U.S. government debt and inflationary pressure that’s expected to be temporary. Home prices will grow by 2.2%; however, real (inflation-adjusted) home prices will decline slightly for a second consecutive year.
- Rents will drop slightly, by -1.0% nationally. Rents in the South and West could see larger declines.
- An 8.9% increase in existing home inventory continuing the trend from the past two years.
- Single-family new home starts will grow by 3.1%, reaching 1.0 million homes, a slight increase from 2025 actuals.
- Home sales will grow 1.7% year over year to 4.13 million.
- Affordability improves modestly as the monthly payment to buy the typical home is expected to slip to 29.3% of median income, its first year under the 30% affordability threshold since 2022. This also marks the first decline in monthly payments on average across the year since 2020.
- A balanced market: The national housing market will remain in balanced territory in 2026, averaging 4.6 months of supply across the year.
Link to full article:2026 Outlook- A More Balanced Market | Florida Realtors
Rates on 30-year mortgages slipped to 6.19% from 6.23% last week, close to its lowest point this year. Borrowing costs on 15-year loans averaged 5.44%.
WASHINGTON — The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell again this week, slipping close to its low point so far this year.
The decline brings the average long-term mortgage rate to 6.19% from 6.23% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.69%.
This is the second straight weekly drop in the average rate after three straight increases. It’s now at the lowest level since Oct. 30, when it was at 6.17%, the lowest level in more than a year.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week. The rate averaged 5.44%, down from 5.51% last week. A year ago, it was 5.96%, Freddie Mac said.
link to full FAR article: Mortgage Rates Ease Further | Florida Realtors
Recent reports from national real estate firms indicate some shifts in the struggling housing market. Zillow finds sellers are discounting their properties at record levels once they’re on the market — when they do so, reducing the sale price an average of $25,000. Redfin reports sellers have been delisting their homes at the highest level since 2017, generally taking them off the market because they’re not selling at or near the asking price.
After years of rising sharply, home prices have been stagnant or falling in many markets this year. Mortgage rates have also come down from the 7% or higher level that we saw in January.
“Even though conditions have improved a little bit from an affordability standpoint, they’re still not affordable,” said Nationwide economist Ben Ayers. “We have many people who are worried about the labor market, and more and more people saying this is not really a great time still to buy a home.”
Link to FAR article: Sellers Pull Back Nationwide as Demand Slows | Florida Realtors
When home sellers set price is too high, they are paying for it. If you are serious about selling your home you might want might need to drop the price. Overpriced houses are languishing on the market as buyers continue to be deterred by elevated mortgage rates and persistent, economic uncertainty, these charts show why it’s matter, matters to price a home properly from the beginning.
For sale Black Diamond:(16)
https://portal.onehome.com/en-US/share/1014395J22040
For sale: Pine Ridge: (16)
https://portal.onehome.com/en-US/share/1014398k50717
For Sale: Citrus Hills (gated) (12)
