2024-03-22 22:38:43
Home sales prices soared to new all-time highs in South Florida in February 2024. Above: Aerial view of Brickell, Brickell Key and downtown Miami in 2017. CARL JUSTE [email protected]
South Florida homebuyers may have to dig deeper into their wallets if they want a residence. Prices for single-family homes and condos are at all-time highs.
Miami-Dade has a median sales price of $650,000 for a home and $420,000 for a condo; Broward saw prices rise to $625,000 for a house and $290,000 for a condo, according to the Miami Association of Realtors’ most recent monthly home sales report. Single-family home prices rose 17% in Miami-Dade and 12% in Broward from a year ago, and condo prices in both counties rose 7%.
South Florida home prices last broke a record in July 2023, when Miami-Dade had a median sales price of $631,670 for single-family homes and $420,000 for condominiums.
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It’s the rich’s fault, said Mariya Letdin, a business professor at Florida State University (FSU). Deep-pocketed homebuyers are driving South Florida’s residential market, snapping up expensive homes and pushing median sales prices to all-time highs.
“Activity is at the higher end of the market,” Letdin said. “It is the story of two cities within the same city. The higher market is isolated from what is happening. In the rest of the market, we will see price declines, because interest rates remain stable and people cannot afford to stretch their budget.”
In fact, the number of contracts signed grew year over year for single-family homes priced more than half a million dollars and rose in Miami-Dade in February by 13% to 741 contracts compared to 653 contracts, according to the report. new contracts signed in Florida in 2024 from Douglas Elliman. However, the price of homes under $500,000 saw a 38% drop in signed contracts to 223 offers compared to 361 offers.
The migration of wealth from South Florida keeps prices and demand high. During the pandemic, South Florida became richer with corporate expansions and the relocation of some of the world’s richest to Miami—remember hedge fund Citadel founder Ken Griffin and Amazon founder Ken Griffin? Jeff Bezos?—and those executives brought their staff. As a result of corporate expansions and job growth, Miami-Dade has a historically low unemployment rate of 1.4%, according to Federal Reserve data.
The demand led to an increase in overall home sales during what is typically considered one of Miami-Dade’s slowest months for activity. Miami-Dade had a total of 1,705 sales in February, up from 1,692 sales a year ago.
“We were surprised and not surprised by January and February,” said Nancy Klock Corey, regional president of Coldwell Banker Realty. “Many of the buyers who were waiting on the fence in December arrived in January and February. “That goes back to the market that was being driven by the population of buyers.”
Broward saw a small decrease in sales to 1,817 from 1,839 in February 2023.
For those who purchased, almost half did so with cash. Miami-Dade and Broward saw 43% and 45% of total sales close in cash, respectively, higher than the national average of 33%.
Any good news for buyers? They have more options on the table with the increase in inventory. Miami-Dade has 4.4 months of supply of homes and 7.8 months of condos; Broward has 3.8 months of supply of homes and 6.8 months of condos. A balanced market consists of six to nine months of inventory, and anything below that benchmark benefits sellers while anything above it benefits buyers.
More housing options may be the only good news the average buyer is getting for a while in South Florida. Starting this summer, buyers will have to worry regarding commissions nationwide, a cost covered by sellers since the 1990s. It’s a change established last week by the National Association of Realtors and that analysts and agents Realtors believe it will be another burden on local homebuyers.
This story was originally published March 21, 2024 4:45 PM.
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