Data Analysis

Florida house prices rose 0.96 percent between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, well under the 2.1 percent national gain, and the state ranked 41st for annual appreciation.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's purchase-only House Price Index put Florida's quarterly gain at 0.18 percent. Two of the nine Florida metro areas in the report, Jacksonville and Miami, posted year-over-year declines.

Florida house prices rose 0.96 percent between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's purchase-only House Price Index released August 25, 2026. The state ranked 41st among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for annual appreciation. Florida prices rose 0.18 percent from the first quarter of 2026 to the second. Nationally, the FHFA index rose 2.1 percent over the year and 0.3 percent over the quarter. Two Florida metro areas in the report, Jacksonville and the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division, recorded price declines from a year earlier.

The gap between the Florida number and the national number is the part worth sitting with. A 0.96 percent annual gain is less than half the 2.1 percent the FHFA recorded for the country, and Florida sits closer to the bottom of the state table than the middle of it.

How much did Florida home prices change in the second quarter of 2026?

The FHFA reported Florida's purchase-only index up 0.96 percent from the second quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of 2026, and up 0.18 percent from the prior quarter. Over five years the state index is up 37.47 percent, which is the run-up from the 2021 period still sitting in the numbers.

For the country, the FHFA reported a 2.1 percent annual increase and a 0.3 percent quarterly increase. The agency's seasonally adjusted monthly index for June was unchanged from May.

All nine census divisions posted positive annual appreciation. The East North Central division was strongest at 4.5 percent. The Pacific division was slowest, at slightly above 0.0 percent. Florida sits in the South Atlantic division.

At the state level the FHFA listed Alaska at 8.3 percent, Vermont at 7.3 percent, Hawaii at 5.8 percent, and Illinois and West Virginia both at 5.6 percent as the five strongest. New Mexico had the largest decline at 1.2 percent.

Which Florida metros gained and which lost?

The report published figures for nine Florida metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions. The spread between the top and the bottom is about three and a half percentage points.

West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach led at 3.20 percent year over year, though it fell 1.16 percent over the quarter. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota was close behind at 3.16 percent annually and rose 1.85 percent over the quarter. Lakeland-Winter Haven rose 2.71 percent, and the Tampa metropolitan division rose 2.09 percent.

Below those, the numbers thin out quickly. St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo rose 1.06 percent. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford rose 0.72 percent annually while falling 0.99 percent over the quarter. Cape Coral-Fort Myers rose 0.52 percent annually and 1.85 percent over the quarter.

Two were negative. The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division fell 0.27 percent from a year earlier, and Jacksonville fell 0.37 percent. Jacksonville's quarterly figure was a 0.08 percent gain, so the annual decline came from the earlier part of the window rather than the spring.

The five-year figures show how differently these markets traveled to get here. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall is up 57.40 percent over five years and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach is up 49.20 percent, while Cape Coral-Fort Myers is up 20.83 percent. A market that ran the hardest through 2021 and 2022 is not automatically the market leading now.

Detailed local figures for these markets sit on the Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Sarasota hub pages.

How does Florida compare with the rest of the country?

Among the 100 largest metropolitan areas nationally, the FHFA reported that 76 showed price increases over the year. Elgin, Illinois led at 7.7 percent. Everett, Washington had the largest decline at 3.7 percent.

Seven of the nine Florida metros in the report were positive, so Florida is not an outlier for having gains. What separates it is the size of those gains. Four of the nine came in under 1.1 percent, and the statewide 0.96 percent figure sits below the national 2.1 percent by more than a full percentage point.

What does the FHFA House Price Index actually measure?

The FHFA index uses a weighted, repeat-sales statistical technique. It tracks price changes on the same properties across repeat transactions rather than comparing one month's mix of sales to another's, which is why it is less sensitive to a shift toward larger or smaller homes than a median price series is.

The purchase-only index is built from mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That is a meaningful boundary in Florida. Cash purchases are excluded, and so are loans above the conforming limit, both of which carry real weight in South Florida and in the coastal second-home markets. The index describes the financed, conforming slice of the market rather than every sale.

This is also why the FHFA number and a median sale price number can point different directions in the same market and both be correct. They are answering different questions.

What this means for Florida buyers and sellers

For a seller, the practical read is that the statewide appreciation cushion over the past year is close to nothing. A 0.96 percent gain on a $400,000 home is under $4,000, which is inside the range of a single price reduction or a repair credit. Pricing decisions in this market lean on current local comparable sales rather than on an assumption that the past year added value.

For a buyer, the same flat picture removes some of the urgency that drove the 2021 and 2022 market. In Jacksonville and in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division, the index says financed conforming prices are slightly below where they were a year ago.

For anyone looking at a five-year window, the 37.47 percent statewide increase is the number that still shapes affordability, tax assessments and insurance replacement costs, regardless of what the last twelve months did.

Limitations

The FHFA purchase-only index covers only mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It excludes cash purchases, jumbo loans above the conforming limit, and government-backed loans outside that channel. In Florida markets with heavy cash and luxury activity, a substantial share of transactions sits outside the index.

Four of the nine Florida geographies in this report are metropolitan divisions rather than whole metropolitan areas. Tampa, St. Petersburg-Clearwater-Largo, Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach are divisions within larger metro areas, and their figures should not be read as covering the entire Tampa Bay or South Florida market.

Quarterly figures are more volatile than annual ones at the metro level, and the FHFA revises prior periods as additional transaction records arrive. Florida's rank of 41st reflects annual appreciation only and says nothing about price level, affordability or sales volume.

Sources

Federal Housing Finance Agency, "U.S. House Prices Rise 2.1 Percent Year over Year; Up 0.3 percent Quarter over Quarter," news release, August 25, 2026.

Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index Report 2026Q2, state and metropolitan area tables, released August 25, 2026.

Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index data page, https://www.fhfa.gov/data/hpi

Disclosure: Jon Brooks is a co-founder of Momentum Realty, a Florida real estate brokerage that owns and funds Florida Housing Intelligence. Momentum has a financial interest in Florida real estate transactions, including in markets named here. See our editorial standards.