Falling prices, more
condo units for sale and lower mortgage rates are helping
stabilize the South Florida market while single family home
price increases keep cooling off.
November was a volatile month of data on the regional real
estate market. The pace of condo sales in Palm Beach County
shot up more than 20% compared to a year ago. Sales volume
was down almost 4% in Miami-Dade County and flat in Broward
County, according to data from the Miami Realtors
Association.
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The skyline of Brickell and downtown Miami from Virginia Key |
”It is typically difficult to extrapolate end of year trends into next year's spring buying season, but we're not seeing anything in these sales numbers that give us a reason to be pessimistic as the year turns over,” he said. “A substantial amount of latent demand is waiting to be unlocked throughout Florida as affordability improves. And affordability really is improving, just at a snail's pace as (mortgage) rates inch slowly downward.”
The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage
in November was about 6.2%, down more than a half percent
from a year earlier. The difference saves about $100 a month
on a $250,000 mortgage.
After a sharp rise thanks to pandemic-era demand, condo
prices and sales activity declined with reforms put in place
for condominium owner associations after the collapse of the
Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, which
killed 98 people in 2021. The reforms require structural
inspections, repairs and financial cushions for older condo
buildings throughout the state.
Price declines have moderated as more units went up for sale
and falling borrowing rates helped encourage buyers.
So has demand from new residents.
Florida’s Demographic Estimating Conference predicts the
state population eclipsed 23 million last year, and expects
more than 300,000 new residents per year through the end of
this decade.
U-Haul rated Florida as the number two state for
population growth based on its one-way rentals in 2025.
“We're seeing a lot of large populations migrating down from
the Midwest,” said Chad Rome, whose U-Haul territory
includes parts of Florida. “North Carolina and Georgia —
that's predominantly where we're seeing the migration flow
in from.”
South Florida’s single family home prices continue growing,
albeit at a slower pace. Median single family home prices
across the three major counties fell slightly in November
from October, but kept on an annual basis. The supply of
homes for sale has increased in Miami-Dade County, but it
remains a relatively tight supply throughout the region with
between four to six months of inventory.
O’Connor noted statewide, the number of single family homes
and condos for sale remains well below what the state
experienced during the Great Recession. “The current level
of single family inventory at about half the level of
inventory we had at this time in 2008.”
