I just read a good article in the miamiherald.com about home sales in South Florida. According to this article entitled, “South Florida home sales continue to rise” South Florida Home sales in March rose by 47% in Broward County and a whopping 101% in Miami Dade County. That is the eighth consecutive month that both Miami-Dade and Broward counties have shown growth in the number of sales compared to the year before. According to this article, the rise in home sales can be attributed to three factors, low interest rates, falling prices and an $8,000 first-time homeowner tax credit. Condos and apartments sales are also rising, compared to the same time last year, condo and apartment sales rose by 59% and 28% respectively.
Florida was one of few states to show an increase in home sales, nationally home resales were down by 7%. This is good news for home sellers as well as the real estate markets in both counties. The median price of a home in Miami-Dade County has dropped to $205,600, which is 39% lower than in March 2007. The average price of a condo in Miami-Dade County is down 43% to $151,000. In Broward County, the average home sale is down 30% to $219,500 and median condo prices are down 40% to $82,100. In the state, the average cost of a home is $141,300, down 30% from the year before and the median condo cost is $108,800, 37% less than the year before.
Hopefully this downward trend has hit bottom, which would mean that homeowners can expect to not lose more of their homes’ values, however, there are still a good number of foreclosures on the market, which means we will probably need at least a few more months before we know for sure.
Please click if you would like to read this article in its entirety at miamiherald.com.