The summer of the COVID-19 pandemic shows buyers and sellers in the Tallahassee housing market are burning up. The demand for homes in Florida’scapital city is so high that a lack of inventory is causing bidders to go to war on new listings.
Without the stress of heavy home insurance costs known to the state’s beach towns, Tallahassee is a great location near the water. The city has a lot of green space with outdoor parks for leisure. It’s an affordable middle-sized city that can entice people from larger areas who want better housing conditions while their lives continue to go remote.
Bruce Foster grew up in Tallahassee and is the founder of The Big Bend Group at Coldwell Banker Hartung. The unique features of the city are no secret to Foster and it’s just enough to attract future homeowners.
“You’re seeing a lot of people relocate to Tallahassee from larger cities like Tampa, Orlando and Miami,” Foster said. “Just because of the fact that they are tired of the hustle and bustle, the commuting, living on tiny little lots, and so many jobs are becoming remote. Why not move somewhere you’ll have a better life experience?”
Low inventory levels cause friction in the housing market with multiple buyers bidding on the same listings. Joe Manausa, a Tallahassee native and real estate agent, posts daily reports of Tallahassee’s real estate market. In his August home sales report posted on Youtube, Manusua mentions the supply and demand disparity seen in the current market.
“Low inventory levels today have created market conditions completely opposite of those we seen back in 2012,” he said.“More than one-third of the homes listed for sale sold in each of the past two months. That means when buyers go looking at homes, there is not much out there that is not already under contract with other buyers.”
More people are motivated to buy a home in the current market with lower interest rates. Homeowners who are interested in selling their homes would be getting a good price for their investment. Whether the market can continue to be steady is entirely up to other factors tied to the pandemic including unemployment.
“There are so many variables to look at, that it’s going to be really tough to predict the housing market,” said Kim Jones, a Realtor with Naumann Group Real Estate Inc. “I don’t anticipate the market being able to sustain itself …just depending on how many jobs we as Americans continue to lose. That will always affect the housing market.”