Single-family home sales and prices saw notable declines in November, according to the latest report from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR).

The six-county First Coast region saw a definite drop in housing sales last month. The NEFAR report showed there was not only a decline in home sales compared to October, but in the year-over-year comparison as well.

There were 1,374 closed single-family houses sold across the First Coast region in November. That’s down by 6.9% from the 1,476 homes sold in November 2024. It’s also a steep 20.4% drop from the 1,726 homes sold in Northeast Florida in October 2025.

The housing market on the First Coat seems to be leaning toward buyers in another facet: the price of homes. The median sales price in the region for November came in at $375,000. That’s a 4.1% decline from November 2024, when the median price tag for a home was $390,992. The figure fell from October’s price as well, dropping 2.1% from $380,020.

Active inventory of homes for sale in North Florida, which had been climbing for much of the past year, showed a decline. There were 7,286 homes for sale in the six-county market. That’s down by 3.9% from November 2024’s figure of 7,585 and is a 4.4% drop from October’s number of 7,623.

In the individual county breakout, Duval County, the most populous in the North Florida region, showed similar trends to the regional figures.

There were 709 homes sold in the county, which is home to Jacksonville. That’s a 2.1% drop in the year-over-year comparison, when there were 724 homes sold. It’s also a whopping 22.9% decline from October’s figure of 919 homes sold. Duval’s median sales price did pick up, though, coming in at $330,000. That’s a 1.2% jump from a year ago and a 1.5% uptick from October.

St. Johns County, one of Florida’s fastest-growing counties and the largest suburb to Jacksonville, saw sales and prices tumble last month. There were 354 closed sales of homes in November. That’s a 10.6% drop from November 2024’s 396 home sales and a 13.7% drop from October’s figure of 410 homes sold. The median sales price in St. Johns came in at $508,993. That marks a 3% decline from a year ago and a 9.5% drop from October.

Nassau County, the last county before the Georgia state line, took a hit in home sales last month. There were 72 closed sales of single-family houses in November. It’s a 10% drop from a year ago, when there were 80, and a steep 30.1% decline from October, which saw 103 closed sales. The price of homes was a little more encouraging for sellers, as the median figure was $471,243 in Nassau. That’s a 1.1% increase from a year ago and 3% uptick from October.

Clay County also sustained a drop in both sales and prices in November. There were 188 home sales last month, marking a 19.3% fall from a year ago when there were 233 homes sold. It’s also a 20% drop from October, which saw 235 sales. Median sales prices also lagged last month in Clay, coming in at $350,000. That’s a 5.4% drop in the year-over-year comparison and a 2.5% decline from October.

Putnam and Baker counties are the least populated areas in the region and saw modest changes in the home sales market. Putnam posted 38 closed sales in November, which is a 35.7% increase from a year ago and a 13.6% decline from October. Baker County witnessed 13 closed home sales in November, a 13.3% decline in both the annual and monthly comparisons.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says there’s nothing wrong with how inmates at two high-profile South Florida lockups are being treated as they await adjudication and deportation for illegal entry to the United States.

If anything, he said those being kept at the Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome) and the Everglades Detention Facility (Alligator Alcatraz) are getting too many amenities, especially given their history.

“You have a lot of criminal aliens. If you look at their rap sheets, you’ve got people that are sexual predators, you’ve got people that have committed, you know, really serious offenses. They shouldn’t have been in this country to begin with. And now they’re making claims, ‘Oh, they’re being abused.’ None of that is substantiated,” DeSantis said.

Amnesty International is the latest group to condemn the treatment of immigrants with disputed documentation, saying it falls “far below international human rights standards.”

DeSantis scoffed at the idea that inmates at Krome, a federal facility, were kept in a “black box.”

He also said Alligator Alcatraz coddled its occupants by supplying a mess hall, a library and other amenities.

“I’m like, do you really need to have all this stuff?’ Because honestly, I thought it was over the top,” DeSantis said.

“And they’re like, ‘Well, you know, we don’t want to be in a situation where we’re being accused of mistreating them.’ I was like, they are going to accuse you of that no matter what. You put them up in the Ritz-Carlton, they are going to accuse you of doing that.”

The latest comments continue an unorthodox defense of the state-federal partnership that served as a prototype for other immigration lockups around the country.

DeSantis previously marveled at an inmate complaining about the quality of a sandwich.

“One of the illegals said that his ham sandwich was cold,” DeSantis remarked. “And I’m thinking to myself, you know, you’re entitled to toasted hoagies?”

Florida’s Director of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie defended the facility’s turkey sandwiches against claims that they were “gray” and “nasty,” leading to that meditation.

DeSantis has also allowed that at least some of those removed from the country via the state-administered facility could have been done so despite being in America legally, saying that “human institutions” are prone to occasional errors.

In a lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged that at Alligator Alcatraz, “detained people were told that they are only allowed one meal a day (and given only minutes to eat), are not permitted daily showers, and are otherwise kept around the clock in a cage inside a tent.”

In response, Guthrie dismissed space concerns, saying inmates have much more room than do people in state-run hurricane shelters.

Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a $117 billion budget proposal which he touted as a leaner spending plan than last year’s that still prioritizes pay increases for teachers and law enforcement officials.

“We’re still doing big things,” DeSantis said in Orlando as he released his 2026-27 fiscal year budget recommendations for his final year of office. “Florida has really led the way with fiscal responsibility.”

DeSantis’ priorities include $25 million for $5,000 recruitment bonuses for law enforcement officers, accelerating construction projects in congested areas, and $278 million for cancer research. The budget recommendations also set aside $118 million to max out the rainy-day fund and $1.4 billion for Everglades restoration projects, DeSantis said.

“What the budget does is it builds off the success that we’ve had,” DeSantis said. “This budget is entitled ‘Floridians First’ because that’s the focus of it. It’s putting our people first and making sure we’re good stewards.”

DeSantis’ press conference comes ahead of the start of the Legislative Session on Jan. 13. State lawmakers will ultimately approve the final budget, although DeSantis has line-item veto power.

For teacher raises, DeSantis is proposing $1.56 billion.

“We put our money where our mouth is. We did record funding for teacher pay increases for Florida. And this proposal today is the biggest by far,” DeSantis said.

The overall K-12 education $30.6 billion budget proposal includes $1.7 billion for early childhood education and would fully fund Bright Futures scholarships, which DeSantis said he is “a big believer in.”

DeSantis also wants to aside $20 million — a $14 million increase — for the Schools of Hope program to allow charter schools to take over traditional public schools with low enrollment.

Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas was booed earlier this month by school officials concerned about charter schools taking over their buildings rent-free. On Wednesday, Kamoutsas went on the offense alongside DeSantis at the podium.

“I know there’s been all kinds of false attacks that have been taking place,” Kamoutsas lamented. He blamed the media for trying to sell papers and said some School Board members care more about running for higher office.

DeSantis also downplayed criticism of Schools of Hope. “We’re not going into Windermere … (or) Palm Beach and do a school. They are going to the toughest areas that we have where a lot of people have given up on some of these students. … They’re going to areas where no one else wants to go.”

In his budget recommendations, DeSantis also proposed nearly $2 billion for the state’s public colleges and $4 billion for Florida public universities.

In addition, DeSantis wants to support transportation and infrastructure, with $15.4 billion for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and $14.3 billion for the transportation work program. DeSantis said a priority is FDOT speeding up construction projects, especially in Central Florida, which is infamous for the congested Interstate 4.

“You get down near Disney and ChampionsGate and Polk on I-4,” DeSantis said of the traffic backups. “It’s not just rush hour. It could happen at any time.”

The Governor’s Office did not immediately provide a copy of the full budget recommendations after the press conference.

DeSantis’ critics took aim and accused him of ignoring Floridians’ affordability struggles.

“When Ron DeSantis slinks out of office next year for his new career as a bottom-tier podcast host for Blaze Media, these last eight years will be remembered as the final act of the Florida Dream of an affordable paradise,” said DeSantis Watch Communications Director Anders Croy.

“This finale was written by a self-serving politician who consistently prioritized the increasing wealth of his corporate donors over the needs of working Floridians.”