As more and more are snapping up properties sold at levels not seen in four years, falling home values continued to stimulate sales in October. But South Florida's housing market remains weighted down by a huge surplus of Miami homes for sale.
According to numbers released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors, prices for existing single-family homes dropped 30% in Miami-Dade County and 29% in Broward Compared to October last year,. Also, condominium prices fell 26% in Miami-Dade and 28% in Broward compared to the same period a year ago.
The declining prices meant sales increases, for the third month in a row. Existing single-family home sales were up in Miami-Dade 23% and 46% in Broward. Condo sales increased 30% in Broward and eked out at 1% gain in Miami-Dade.
Only 453 single-family homes sold in Miami-Dade and 624 in Broward County during October, despite the rising sales, In contrast, 975 single-family homes were purchased in Miami-Dade County and 996 in Broward in October 2004.
The buying activity reduced the excess supply of Broward single-family homes and condos listed for sale by 8% compared to a year ago. In Miami-Dade the inflating inventory slowed significantly, growing just 1%.
But the region still has an excess of unsold homes. It would take 30 months to sell all the single-family homes listed for sale in Miami-Dade and 42 months for all the condos to be sold, at the current sales pace Broward has a 20-month supply of single-family homes looking for a buyer and a 29-month supply of condos.
In a healthy market, the inventory of unsold homes is generally between six and 12 months, with a better balance between buyers and sellers.
Tight credit continues to hinder would-be buyers, even though home prices are falling.
Since the downturn many analysts have said a market recovery first requires a decline in prices that prompts formerly wary purchasers to buy, which eventually shrinks the excess supply of homes.
Chief of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale, Richard Barkett, calls this the housing market's ``healing process.''
The Miami-Dade median was $246,800 for single-family homes in October, and in Broward, $252,500. That's where prices stood in 2004. The median price for a Miami-Dade condo in October was $197,400 and $115,200 in Broward.
Single-family home prices fell in Miami-Dade for the third month in a row and the fourth month in a row in Broward.
The median condo price in Miami-Dade dipped below $200,000 for the first time since January 2006, when the state Realtor association started tracking condo sales that.
The falling prices are the result of struggling sellers slashing asking prices, banks increasingly willing to sell at a loss and foreclosed properties coming back on the market at cut-rate prices.
Contributed by MLR Realty
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