TAMPA, Fla. – Florida’s ever-changing real estate market is currently experiencing a shake up: There is more inventory, meaning more homes for sale, but fewer motivated buyers.

A real estate agent said this is a bit misleading, in that increased inventory isn’t exactly a bad thing.

So why exactly is that?

According to the Florida Realtor Association report, compared to pre-pandemic years, the number of homes on the market has gone up but because prices haven’t gone down, fewer offers are coming in.

When you put things into context this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Melanie Atkinson, an agent with Compass Realty, said to get an accurate picture of the housing market, you can’t compare home prices today to those before covid.

The same goes for inventory.

Atkinson said pre-pandemic, there was huge influx of people that relocated to Florida, but there were just a little over 4,000 houses on the market.

Because of that demand, home prices skyrocketed.

Today, she says there are about 22,000 houses on the market and the number of people moving to Florida has leveled out, thereby creating more of a balance in the market.

It’s true that prices haven’t gone down substantially, but she says if they had, it wouldn’t really benefit anyone.

“Think about it like gas prices,” Atkinson said. “When you get used to $4 gas it feels like you’re saving money whenever you pay $3.75, but you were paying $2.50 five years ago.

“Everything is elevated. To go back to those numbers, we have would have to ware away all of that equity.”

Atkinson said the best way to make home ownership more affordable in Florida is by reducing all of the costs involved: interest rates, home insurance, property taxes, HOA fees, and utility fees.

Lastly, she said the real cause of the increase in inventory is the condo market.

She says no one is buying them and inventory is piling up because requirements imposed by the state, as a result of the surfside condo collapse.

The costs now associated with owning a condo have nearly doubled.