• New real estate data shows Florida cities like West Palm Beach and Orlando posting increases in new home listings, contrasting with national trends.
• But Jacksonville led the nation last month in canceled home purchase agreements – pending real estate deals that fell through.
• Meanwhile, national mortgage delinquency rates fall, with serious delinquencies at their lowest since 2006, indicating overall economic health.

New housing and real estate market data reveal three Florida metros standing out nationally, two in good ways, and one, well, not so much. West Palm Beach and Orlando witnessed significant increases in new home listings, an indication that lower interest rates might be enticing more sellers into the market. Meanwhile, Jacksonville tops the nation with the highest rate of canceled home purchase agreements for reasons that are still unclear.

According to new data from Redfin, Orlando and West Palm Beach rank in the top five nationally in new home listings compared to other major U.S. metro areas. Specifically, West Palm Beach ranks 3rd and Orlando 4th for the largest year-over-year increases in new listings. West Palm Beach recorded an 18.5% rise, while Orlando posted a 16.5% increase.

Nationally, the mortgage delinquency rate, which refers to the percentage of loans where payments are overdue, fell slightly to 3.26% in October. This is a marginal improvement from the same time last year and indicates a generally stable housing market with no major hiccups in the economy. Notably, serious delinquencies, which are payments overdue by 90 days or more, have dropped to their lowest levels since 2006, signaling strong recovery signs in the mortgage sector and giving economists some optimism about where things are headed.

Despite these positive indicators, foreclosure starts, the process by which lenders begin the process of repossessing a home due to missed payments, have risen to the highest level in 18 months. However, the number of foreclosure completions, where the repossessed property is sold, remained relatively stable compared to previous months.

The active foreclosure inventory, representing homes in the process of foreclosure, saw a slight increase but remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels. This suggests that while there is an uptick in foreclosures, it’s not indicative of a widespread problem.

The risk of near-term foreclosures remains low, thanks in part to loss mitigation efforts. These efforts, such as loan modifications or forbearance, help protect over 70% of seriously delinquent loans from resulting in foreclosure. This protective measure is significant, given the historically low levels of serious delinquencies.

In terms of prepayment activity, which is an early loan repayment that can indicate refinancing or selling, there has been a decline to just 0.43%. This decrease, observed under seasonal pressures, persists despite a slight easing in interest rates from the previous month.