LGI Homes advertises 4.99% at Royal Highlands in Weeki Wachee. That's the biggest number on the page. The terms are lower down. The rate applies to eligible FHA and VA 5/1 adjustable-rate loans. It stays fixed for five years, then adjusts each year by up to 1%, with a 5% lifetime cap. To get it, buyers have to finance through LGI's affiliated mortgage brokers and sign and close by November 14, 2026. Royal Highlands plans run from $295,900 to $382,900.
That price range explains the rest of Hernando County's fall market. The $300,000s are where builders are pushing financing offers. They're also where the county's MLS listings thinned out the most this summer. A falling inventory count usually means buyers are snapping homes up. In Hernando, the drop is mostly sellers stepping back.
In August, supply got tighter and sales got slower
The latest full month is August 2026. Florida Realtors released those figures on September 16, and the September numbers don't come out until October 16. The August 2026 Hernando County single-family report shows the market moving two ways at once.
| Hernando single-family, August |
2025 |
2026 |
Change |
| Active listings |
1,674 |
1,446 |
-13.6% |
| Months' supply |
5.0 |
4.2 |
-16.0% |
| New listings |
466 |
417 |
-10.5% |
| Median time to contract |
49 days |
61 days |
+24.5% |
| Median % of original list price received |
95.7% |
95.1% |
-0.6% |
| Closed sales |
312 |
316 |
+1.3% |
| Median sale price |
$330,000 |
$329,550 |
-0.1% |
The top two rows look like a market tipping toward sellers. The time-to-contract row says otherwise. In August 2026, the homes that closed had spent a median of 61 days on the market before going under contract. In July 2026 the median was 39 days. August closings mostly reflect contracts signed earlier in the summer, so one month won't settle the question. Still, the slowdown doesn't fit a story about eager buyers.
It's possible for both to be true because of how inventory is counted. Florida Realtors notes that inventory falls when new listings don't keep up with homes leaving the market, "regardless of whether they actually sell." In August, about 10% fewer homes were listed than a year earlier. That alone pulls inventory and months' supply down, even while the homes that do sell take longer.
The pullback is concentrated in one price band
Break the August report out by price, and most of the shrinkage turns out to come from homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999.
| August 2026 vs. August 2025 |
$200K–$299K |
$300K–$399K |
$400K–$499K |
| New listings |
126, +32.6% |
152, -28.6% |
53, -28.4% |
| Closed sales |
103, +12.0% |
105, -17.3% |
45, +9.8% |
| Active listings |
321, +1.6% |
582, -14.8% |
253, -13.1% |
| Median time to contract |
64 days, +30.6% |
62 days, +14.8% |
58 days, +18.4% |
The $300,000s are still the county's biggest band, with 582 active listings. Even so, new listings there fell by more than a quarter and closings fell 17.3%. Just below, the $200,000s went the other way. More homes were listed, more sold, and they took longer to sell. Both bands are slower, so in one of them more sellers came in and in the other fewer did.
The Florida Realtors report counts sales through the MLS feed. It doesn't split new construction from resale, so the bands above include any builder homes listed there. What the report does show is where the MLS supply moved. That's the range where builders are currently advertising their own homes and financing.
Who else is selling at $300,000 to $399,999
Here is what builder pages showed in Hernando County in early October 2026:
- LGI Homes, Royal Highlands, Weeki Wachee. Plans from $295,900 to $382,900, with the 4.99% FHA/VA 5/1 ARM offer described above. LGI's national promotion advertises up to $50,000 in combined closing-cost, price-discount and rate incentives on select homes, with a November 14, 2026 sign-and-close deadline.
- Adams Homes, 4315 Elwood Road, Spring Hill. A four-bedroom, 2,169-square-foot home listed at $374,150. It qualifies for a rate buydown if the buyer closes with a seller-approved lender and signs by 5 p.m. on October 24, 2026. The page calls the reduced price promotional through that same deadline.
- D.R. Horton, Waterford, Brooksville. Starts at $277,990, with available homes from $280,000 to $450,000.
- D.R. Horton, Sandal Key, Weeki Wachee. Advertised from $255,000. One listed home was cut from $447,990 to $400,000.
- D.R. Horton, Somerset Bay, Spring Hill. Starts at $240,000, with available homes at $275,000 to $278,000.
- Maronda Homes, Benton Hills, Brooksville. From the $259s, advertising "Low Interest Rates on Quick Move-In Homes." Maronda's incentive disclaimer says offers vary by community, can change without notice and require its preferred lender.
The builders have been competing in this range all year. In May 2026, a local agent told Bay News 9 that about a third of Hernando homes selling between $300,000 and $400,000 were new construction. The same agent said rates of 4% or 5% made it harder for resale owners to sell. That share comes from May, before the August data, and no newer figure has been published. It does match what showed up three months later, when fewer MLS sellers listed in that band.
A builder rate depends on the loan and the deadline
When a resale home and a new build sit at similar prices, the advertised rate can make the new build look much cheaper per month. Builder rates usually come with conditions that don't show up in the headline.
The loan type. LGI's 4.99% applies only to FHA and VA 5/1 ARMs. A buyer using a conventional loan, or one who wants a rate fixed for 30 years, falls outside that offer's terms. After year five, the payment depends on an index and the caps.
The lender. LGI, Adams and Maronda all tie their incentives to a builder-affiliated or seller-approved lender. LGI's own fine print says buyers don't have to use the affiliated brokers to buy the home, only to get the promotion.
The clock. Adams' promotional price ends October 24. LGI requires a signed contract and a closing by November 14. When an offer has a closing deadline, the inspection, appraisal and loan approval all have to fit inside it.
A resale seller can't easily match those offers. A builder can pay to buy down a rate through its own lender across many homes. A homeowner selling one house usually makes up the difference through price or seller credits at the negotiating table. In August 2026, the median Hernando sale closed at 95.1% of its original list price. A year earlier it was 95.7%.
The rest of the August report points the same way
The other figures in the August 2026 report fit a slower market. They don't show a distressed one. Cash purchases fell to 71 from 78 a year earlier. Foreclosure and bank-owned sales rose to 9 from 1, at a median of $235,000, and there were 3 short sales. Together that's still a small slice of 316 closings. Traditional sales held a median of $330,640. The median time from listing to closing reached 97 days, up from 87. The report notes that a widening gap between time to contract and time to sale usually points to longer closings or fewer cash buyers.
Prices held steady while homes took longer to sell. For a buyer, that kind of market usually leaves room in the terms, such as repairs, credits and closing dates, more than in the headline price.
Hernando listings are moving into the same MLS as the rest of Tampa Bay
A structural change is also underway. On September 23, 2026, Stellar MLS announced it was expanding into Hernando County. The expansion follows the merger of the West Pasco Board of REALTORS® and the Hernando County Association of REALTORS® into West Pasco Hernando REALTORS®, which has more than 1,900 members. Hernando's own MLS is being discontinued, and Stellar becomes the merged association's exclusive MLS.
Until now, Hernando listings lived in a separate Flexmls system. Its data share, Coast2Coast, connected it to MLSs in St. Augustine and St. Johns County, Daytona Beach and the Space Coast, plus realMLS, rather than to Stellar. Coast2Coast went live on July 10, 2024. Once the change is complete, a Hernando home will sit in the same system Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas agents already search. For anyone comparing the $300,000s across county lines, the listings will be easier to line up side by side.
The announcement doesn't give a cutover date. It also doesn't say whether active listings will carry over, or how listing history and days-on-market counts will be handled. Until those details come out, the days-on-market figure on a Hernando listing this fall is worth confirming with the listing agent.
Quick answers
When will September 2026 Hernando numbers be out?
Florida Realtors lists Friday, October 16, 2026 as the next release date.
Does the 4.99% LGI rate apply to every loan?
No. Under LGI's published terms, it applies to eligible FHA and VA 5/1 ARM loans on select inventory homes, through its affiliated mortgage brokers. Buyers have to sign and close by November 14, 2026.
Is Hernando's median price falling?
Not by much. It was $329,550 in August 2026, compared with $330,000 in August 2025. Speed is what changed.
If you're comparing a Hernando resale home with a builder's rate offer, or you're thinking about listing in the $300,000s this fall, The Waugh Group can put the price-band numbers, the builder fine print and your timeline on one page with you. Schedule a free consultation, or request a free home valuation to see where your home falls in that band.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
