Brad O'Connor directly addresses camera:  The spring buying season is here, but stubbornly high interest rates continue to present challenges for many prospective homebuyers here in Florida.
According to the latest housing market statistics from Florida Realtors, closed sales of single-family homes were down over 10% in March compared to one year ago, while townhouse and condo sales were down by about 17%. 
Meanwhile, home price growth remained fairly calm by recent standards during the month of March. The median price for closed sales of single-family homes in Florida was $420,600, a year-over-year increase of about 4%. Over in the townhouse and condo category, the median price increased by just over 3% from a year ago, rising to $330,000.
More homes were listed on Florida's multiple listing services this March than in March of a year ago, but the year-over-year changes were much more modest than what we saw in January and February. New listings of single-family homes were up close to 8% in March, well off the pace of nearly 17% in January and over 28% in February. Likewise, in the townhouse and condo category, year-over-year growth in new listings in March was 11%, compared to over 31% in January and about 30% in February.
This slowdown in the rate of new listing growth meant that although inventory increased from the end of February to the end of March, it increased more slowly than it did in most recent prior months. Still, in a normal market, we usually expect inventory levels to decline from the end of February to the end of March. Inventory levels are something we continue to watch closely. Higher inventory levels will provide some relief in terms of affordability over time, as well as provide more choices for prospective buyers.
As always, Florida Realtors has a wide array of other metrics available for you to review, not only at the statewide level, but also for your local market. Florida Realtors members can find the latest statistics on our interactive web application, SunStats. And of course our statewide statistics are available to everyone at floridarealtors.org. Thanks for watching- well see you next month!