One of the most common questions we get right now is some version of "is the market slow?" The honest answer from the data is that homes are selling about as fast as they did before the pandemic. In 2026, the median closed home sale in the six county realMLS footprint took about 38 days on market. That feels slow only if your reference point is the 2021 frenzy, when the median was a record-low 18 days.
We pulled every closed sale back to 2001 and measured days on market the same way each year. The 25 year picture puts today in context.
The 25 year pattern
In the early 2000s, homes took a median of 36 to 40 days to sell. The 2005 boom pushed that down to 27. Then the 2008 to 2011 downturn stretched it to a peak of 81 days, the slowest stretch in our record. Through the 2010s it worked its way back to the high 30s, and by 2019 it was about 39 days, a normal, balanced pace.
Then 2021 happened. With rock-bottom rates and almost no inventory, the median sale went under contract in 18 days, an all-time low. That is the number burned into a lot of people's memory, and it is why 2026 can feel slow by comparison. But 38 days is not slow by any historical standard. It is normal.
Why it matters if you are buying or selling
For buyers, a 38 day median means you are not competing with ten offers in the first weekend anymore. There is time to see a home twice, get an inspection, and negotiate. For sellers, it means pricing and presentation matter again. A well-priced home still sells in about a month, but an overpriced one sits, and the days-on-market clock is public. As we covered when Northeast Florida home sales stopped falling in 2026, the market is transacting again, just at a normal speed rather than a frantic one. For the full market picture, see our Jacksonville housing market data hub.
How agents can use this data
With a buyer who thinks they missed the fast market: the fast market was the outlier, not the norm. A 38 day pace means real negotiating time. Frame it as a healthier market to buy in, backed by the 25 year line.
With a seller anchored to 2021: homes went under contract in 18 days back then. That was a once-in-a-generation frenzy. At a normal 38 day pace, price and presentation decide whether a listing sells in a month or sits.
With a nervous seller who thinks the market crashed: 38 days is not a crash. A crash looked like the 77 to 81 days of 2008 to 2011. Today's pace is squarely in the pre-pandemic normal range.
On social or with press: the chart carries it. One line: homes in Northeast Florida are selling about as fast as they did before the pandemic.
Keep it about homes and the market, never about who lives where. Cite the source line below if you quote the numbers, and never present them as guaranteed.
People also ask
How long does it take to sell a home in Northeast Florida?
In 2026 the median closed home sale in the six county realMLS footprint (Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker, Putnam) took about 38 days on market. That is up from a record-low 18 days in the 2021 frenzy, but close to the pre-pandemic pace of the late 2010s, per Momentum Research analysis of realMLS closings.
Are homes taking longer to sell in 2026?
Longer than the 2021 to 2022 frenzy, yes, but not longer than normal. Median days on market rose from 18 in 2021 to about 38 in 2026, which is roughly the same pace as 2001 (40 days) and the 2017 to 2019 stretch (35 to 40 days), per realMLS closing records.
What is a normal number of days on market?
In Northeast Florida the long-run normal has been around 35 to 45 days. The 2008 to 2011 downturn pushed it to 77 to 81 days, and the 2021 frenzy pulled it to a record-low 18. The 2026 figure of about 38 days sits right in the historical normal range, per Momentum Research analysis of realMLS data.
The takeaway
Days on market is one of the cleanest ways to cut through the noise about whether the market is hot or cold. In Northeast Florida it says the same thing the sales and pricing data do: 2026 is a normalization, not a crisis. Homes take about 38 days to sell, right in line with the years before the pandemic, faster than the 2008 to 2011 downturn and slower only than the 2021 frenzy that was never going to last. For more, see how buyers are financing those purchases. Data reflects closed sales in the realMLS footprint and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This is general information, not investment advice.
Momentum Research. Equal Housing Opportunity.
This article was compiled with the help of automated tools from realMLS closing records and may contain errors. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. It is for general information only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Verify all facts independently before relying on them. Source: Momentum Research analysis of realMLS closed sales, Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker, and Putnam counties, median days on market, 2001 to 2026.