TAMPA, Fla. — The housing market is cooling down. A new Redfin study reveals that we’re starting to see a shift from a seller's market to a buyer's market.
And that became very clear when ABC Action News' Annette Gutierrez went to several open houses on Sunday afternoon and couldn't find any buyers.
"The first week I did it, I probably had a total of like, five people," said realtor Amrita Ramassar. "This weekend is my second open house for it, and I had I think maybe a total of seven, about four or five yesterday, and then two today."
WATCH: Florida housing market cools as buyers gain upper hand, Redfin study finds
Ramassar listed a property in East Tampa about a month ago at around $500,000, but she hasn’t gotten any bites. So, about a week ago, she dropped it by about $25,000 more.
"It's a bit frustrating because this is an investment property for us as well, so we are trying to sell it and move onto something else," said Ramassar. "So I'm kind of like, do I drop it again? Do I wait a little bit more?"
This is a trend many sellers are going to start running into now.
According to the Redfin study released late last month, Tampa is the sixth hottest buyer's market in the nation.
Nationally, there are also nearly 500,000 more sellers than buyers in the country, which amounts to about 34% more.
In fact, all six of Florida's biggest metros made the top 10: Miami being the hottest buyer's market and Newark, New Jersey, being the hottest seller's market.
"Big metropolitan areas, especially Tampa, Miami, Orlando, etc., aren't cheap anymore and they haven't been for some time," said realtor Chandler Thompson. "And I think that's mainly due to one, insurance is absolutely through the roof."
Thompson has been a realtor in Tampa for almost a decade, and said Florida’s housing market isn’t as appealing as it used to be, compared to the COVID years when a lot of people migrated here.
"Especially after our most recent hurricane season, especially in Tampa, when we get hit by two hurricanes in a row that did crazy devastation," said Thompson. "I think a lot of people are second-guessing, ultimately, where we're at."
He said typically when the housing market starts switching gears like this, that’s when the prices start to cool down.
"With interest rates being as high as they are, buyers can’t afford nearly what they could three, four or five years ago, so it’s changed and shifted a little bit," said Thompson. "I think sellers are getting a little bit of a reality check now. They still think they can get those COVID prices, and that’s just not the case anymore."
Thompson said the economic uncertainty and the expensive houses are giving buyers the upper hand, with less pressure to put in an offer, and more time to shop.
"Houses are starting to sit on the market a lot longer, so ultimately everything is really shifted in the buyer's favor because of that," said Thompson. "While they can't afford as much as they used to, they can now probably have more negotiating power than they ever have in the past four or five years."
Despite it being a buyer's market, experts said it’s still going to take some time to see those housing prices drop.
Clearwater Senior Condo owners still waiting for elevator to return to service 5 months later
Residents at "On Top of the World" senior condominium have been forced to live without a functioning elevator for more than four months. The latest notice posted on the elevator stated that it would likely return to service on June 4, but by the end of the day, they were still left without service.
