Florida Feels Worse About the Economy. Broward Buyers Are Still Closing.

Florida's consumer confidence index just posted its sixth straight monthly decline. Broward County's home sales numbers just posted their fifth straight monthly increase. Both of those are true, in the same state, at the same time, right now.

The University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research tracks consumer sentiment across five measures: how people feel about their current finances compared with a year ago, whether they are willing to make a big purchase, and how they expect the economy to look one year and five years out. Every single one of those measures fell in August, the second straight month where all five moved lower together. The overall index dropped to 67.4, almost 12 points below where it stood in February. Willingness to buy something like furniture or a major appliance fell more than 9 points over that same stretch.

That is a real signal. People are more cautious, more budget conscious, and more hesitant to spend on things that feel optional right now.

A home does not feel optional to most of the people who actually buy one here.

Broward County's own transaction numbers tell a different story than the statewide mood survey. Total home sales rose year over year for a fifth consecutive month in July, according to MIAMI REALTORS and RWorld. Single family sales were up almost 8 percent year over year. Sales of a million dollars or more climbed nearly 34 percent. The single family median price moved from $620,000 to $650,000 over the same twelve months.

I watch this disconnect play out in real conversations, not just in reports. A buyer tells me the market feels shaky, that something they read worried them, that maybe now is not the right time. Then a job changes, a lease ends, a family grows, and the decision to move stops being optional. The sentiment survey never gets a vote in that decision. A headline does not get one either.

None of this means the caution people feel is made up. Insurance costs, financing costs, and everyday affordability are still putting real pressure on Broward households, and the UF survey is picking up something genuine about how that pressure feels month to month. But feeling nervous about buying a couch and feeling nervous about buying a house are two different decisions, and the closing numbers show buyers are still making the second one.

For sellers, this matters because pricing a home off what the news feels like, instead of what buyers are actually doing, tends to guess wrong in both directions. For buyers, it means the wait and see approach has a real cost. The top tier of this market kept climbing while sentiment fell, not despite it.

If you are trying to figure out what any of this means for your specific plans this fall, that is worth a real conversation with actual numbers on the table, not a headline.

Roger Averbuj, Broker | Prestige Heritage Realty | (954) 663-8461

Source: Florida Realtors, "Florida consumer sentiment slips for sixth month," Sept. 1, 2026