Prices Are Still Climbing in Both Markets

Both markets posted real price growth. Condos actually grew faster on a percentage basis this month, even with more inventory still available.

A Tale of Two Markets, Side by Side

Single family supply has held steady, comfortably under the balanced line for six straight months. Condo supply is still elevated, but it has been drifting down toward that line since December.

If you have been waiting for more single family homes to choose from in Pinellas County, the wait just got a little longer. Active inventory dropped to 3,210 homes in May, down 23.2 percent from a year ago, even though new listings only slowed modestly and demand held mostly steady. That combination pushed months supply down to 3.7, a real drop from the 5.0 months we saw last May, and it puts this market firmly on the seller favored side of the balanced line.

Prices reflect that shift. The median single family home sold for $476,200 in May, up 3.5 percent year over year, while the average sale price climbed 9.0 percent to $662,696, a sign that activity at the higher end of the market has been especially healthy lately. Sellers are also getting a strong share of their asking price, a median of 95.8 percent of the original list price. Homes are still moving at a steady, sustainable pace too, with a median of 70 days from listing to closing, unchanged from a year ago. This is not a market overheating into a frenzy. It is a market that has simply tightened in a healthy, durable way.

One more detail worth knowing: cash buyers made up a smaller share of single family sales this May than they did the year before, 29.7 percent of closed sales. That is a good sign for the broader market, since it usually means more traditional, financed buyers are active and competing, not just investors and all cash purchasers.

The condo and townhome market in Pinellas County is still working through extra inventory, but the gap is closing faster than it has in a while. Months supply came in at 7.6 in May, still above the 5.5 month line that separates a buyer's market from a balanced one, but down meaningfully from 8.8 a year ago. If you are shopping for a condo right now, you still have real negotiating room, just less of it than you had last May.

What stands out most is how much sales activity has picked up. Closed sales jumped 14.8 percent year over year to 612 units, and new pending sales rose 20.5 percent, both strong signs that buyers are stepping back into this segment with real confidence. Prices have followed along, with the median condo selling for $275,000, up 5.8 percent from a year ago. The average sale price jumped even more, up 19.5 percent to $452,241, which is largely a reflection of a handful of luxury downtown St. Petersburg tower closings. Those can swing the average noticeably in any given month, even when they do not represent what a typical condo buyer is experiencing.

The tradeoff for buyers right now is patience. Median time to sale stretched to 102 days, up from 89 days a year ago, simply because there is more inventory to sort through before a buyer commits. Cash buyers remain a bigger share of this market too, at 57.7 percent of closed sales, which tracks with the higher level of investor and all cash activity that has always been part of condo buying in this county.

What We Expect for the Rest of 2026

Based on the trend we are seeing, we expect single family inventory to stay tight through the summer and into fall, with prices continuing to climb at a steady, moderate pace rather than spiking. Hurricane season is now underway across Florida, and while it is natural to wonder whether that slows things down, history tells a different story here. Closings continue right through the season every year, buyers from out of state keep arriving, and well priced homes keep finding buyers. It is simply part of doing business on this peninsula, not a reason to put plans on hold.

For condos, we expect the slow, steady improvement to continue. Inventory has been trending down for several months in a row now, and if closed sales keep pace with what we saw in May, that gap should keep narrowing through the rest of the year. The wave of new state mandated structural and reserve requirements that rattled the condo market over the past couple of years has largely worked its way through the system at this point, and buyers appear to be responding with more confidence as a result.

Advice for Buyers and Sellers Right Now