Increased sales activity has reinvigorated homeowners, convincing many to sell.

Strong demand and a willingness, if not an eagerness, to buy is helping Miami sellers regain confidence and further alleviate the long-standing inventory shortage that has crippled the local market, a new report from the Miami Association of Realtors and the local MLS confirmed.

Single-family homes are selling especially quickly, the report found. In October, the median number of days on market was an impressive 43 days, a year-over-year increase of 7.5 percent.

Persistent demand, as well as continually rising home prices, has reinvigorated sellers who were only recently wary of listing their property. Now, after years of shallow inventories, Miami is experiencing a surge. Active listings in city are up 19.5 percent from last October, and new listings for single-family homes have increased 6.8 percent.

Sale Prices Up Across the Board

The report additionally outlined increases in home prices, finding that:

• Median sale prices for single-family homes increased 9.1 percent year-over-year.
• Median sale prices for condos increased 8.8 percent year-over-year.
• Overall, residential real estate sales increased 9.5 percent year-over-year, marking 35 months of consistent year-over-year gains for single-family homes, and 40 months of growth for condos, not including the small dip in August of this year.

Miami Positioned Well for 2015

While the news of rising sales prices is encouraging, it was ultimately expected considering it’s, mostly, been the trend all year. The big story is in regards to the influx of new sellers into the market.

“Seller confidence is resulting in greater inventory becoming available in the Miami real estate market,” Francisco Angulo, 2014 MAR residential president, said. “But strong home sales in Miami continue to yield rapid inventory absorption, resulting in rising prices even if at a more moderate pace.”

It’s good news for Miami agents that sellers are rediscovering their enthusiasm for the residential market, but MAR’s 2014 chairman Liza Mendez suggests there might be more to the increased numbers than simply confidence.

“Miami continues to experience population growth, interest from foreign and domestic second homebuyers and economic expansion, “ she explained.

Furthermore, the city’s condo market has greatly bounced back from its August slump, and preconstruction increases suggest it will continue improving well into the new year.

“South Florida’s preconstruction condo market is booming east of Interstate 95 in the tricounty area, as the area heads into the winter buying season,” Founder of CraneSpotters.com Peter Zalewski said. “In the last month, buyers purchased about 730 preconstruction condo units based on the latest CraneSpotters.com Developers Price Survey of exclusive brokerages representing planned towers.”

Zalewski went on to forecast additional increases in the months to follow.