Buyer’s Market, Seller Mindset: Inside South Florida’s Pandemic-Pricing Hangover

Written by:

Rudi Davis

Date:

08 Feb 2026

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South Florida’s residential market has shifted into a buyer’s market, but many sellers have yet to adjust their pricing expectations. Fiona Barone, a REALTOR® with eXp Realty who closed 98 units in the region in 2025, says sellers are still anchored to valuations set during the pandemic’s peak, resulting in longer listing times and stagnant inventory.

“You need to be aggressive, you need to listen to your agent, and you need to price it accordingly,” Barone says. “Buyers aren’t paying full price for these properties.”

Barone explains that sellers continue to expect pandemic-era premiums, even though bidding wars and multiple-offer scenarios are no longer common. Today, pricing a property even $50,000 above market value leads to extended days on market, no offers, and inevitable price reductions.

“What’s the harm in putting it $50,000 over?” Barone says, voicing a common seller question. “Well, it’s not going to prompt a showing. Instead, it’s going to mean more days on market, and no one making an offer.”

The Pricing Disconnect Is Distorting the Market

This disconnect has tangible consequences. Realistically priced homes still draw showings, open house traffic, and offers, Barone says. The same home, listed $50,000 too high, will sit unsold for months.

“I can price a property in Delray Beach for $50,000 over price, and I’ll sit for four months,” Barone says. “But price it where it needs to be to move. I’ll have showings and open houses, but I won’t have the influx of 50 people coming to my open house, and I won’t have multiple offers.”

Many sellers believe cosmetic upgrades justify higher prices, but Barone says buyers are no longer willing to pay a premium for minor improvements. “If you want somebody to pay $50,000 more, encourage a seller to bring yourself to that $50,000 above market price,” she says.

According to Barone, the pandemic-era market, in which buyers competed for properties, has given way to one in which sellers must compete for buyers. “Sellers are still stuck on, ‘I think we can get top dollar for COVID,’ and we’re way past that market,” she says.

Buyer Profile Has Changed Dramatically

At the same time, the profile of the typical buyer has shifted. Barone says the speculative buyers who flooded the market during the pandemic, often with limited equity and aggressive expectations, have largely disappeared.

“I think it’s a different clientele,” Barone says. “We have a more cautious buyer. They’re financing, they’re counting their money, and they want to make sure their value is good.”

Tighter financial constraints drive this caution. Buyers who need financing now face higher insurance costs, rising property taxes, and strict monthly budget limits. “If they only want to spend $4,000 or $5,000 a month, that has to include their mortgage, taxes, HOA fees, and insurance,” Barone explains.

This has created a fundamental mismatch between what sellers are asking and what buyers can afford. “We have a family of four, or a family of six that is making $110,000 combined,” she says. “They cannot afford a $500,000 house, and that’s the starter home here.”

A Buyer Problem, Not a Supply Problem

Barone argues that the slowdown is not due to excess inventory but rather to a shortage of buyers who can afford current prices. “We’ve got a buyer problem,” she says. “We’ve got one to two buyers per house. We have a lot of buyers who are overpriced in this market.”

With many would-be buyers unable to qualify for mortgages, the rental market has become saturated as these households remain renters. “We also have very heavily rental markets saturated with nothing but rentals on the market,” Barone says. “They’re not moving either.”

This gap between seller expectations and buyer capacity, Barone says, has created overlooked opportunities for buyers willing to negotiate. “The overlooked opportunity is they’re all sitting there,” she says. “It’s a buyer’s market. Make an offer. Chances are, the sellers can accept it.”

Practical Implications for Market Participants

Barone’s brokerage has responded by aggressively managing seller expectations and pricing homes to move, rather than testing the market with inflated numbers. “We are really on the verge of a buyer’s market,” she says. “You need to be aggressive, you need to listen to your agent, and you need to price it accordingly.”

She emphasizes that sellers must abandon pandemic-era pricing strategies and accept the new reality. “I would like to see the prices stabilize and come down,” Barone says, noting that current asking prices remain disconnected from buyer capacity even after some recent reductions.

Whether sellers adapt quickly enough to prevent further stagnation will shape South Florida’s residential market in 2026. Barone’s experience shows that realistically priced properties are selling, but many owners are still clinging to the pandemic era market that no longer exists.