Miami prices and sales up according to new report

Miami sales continued piling up in April as demand, inventory and job growth remained healthy, a new report from the Miami Association of Realtors (MIAMI) and the local MLS found.

More than 1,200 Miami single-family homes sold in April, marking it the strongest performing month since last December when sales totaled 1,250. Year-over-year, single-family sales jumped 8.0 percent, while median price similarly increased 7.0 percent to $260,000 – still within affordable 2004 levels, but well above the national median of $221,200.

Failing to keep pace, condominium sales dropped 6.8 percent year-over-year from 1,557 in April 2014 to 1,451. However, despite the drop in sales, median prices continued inching forward, rising 3.1 percent to $199,000.

The dip in condo sales is likely a result of the limited financing available to existing condo buyers.

Prices are Cooling

As MIAMI’s report went on to detail, demand in the market remains considerable, but swelling inventories and, as a result, buyer options are helping to temper exorbitant price increases.

• The average percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 94.6 percent, down a negligible 0.1 percent from a year earlier. The median number of days on the market for single-family homes sold in April 2015 was 43 days, equaling last year’s figure.
• The average percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 93.1 percent, a 0.5 percent decrease. The median number of days on the market for condominiums sold in April 2015 was 63 days, an increase of 14.5 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

Condo Buyers Face Financing Problems

The city’s market, while performing strong, is flying a few red flags that suggest possible overvaluation, but MIAMI Residential President Christopher Zoller is confident in Miami’s strength.

“The continued stability in Miami’s job market and low interest rates are improving buyer confidence,” he said. “Not only are we seeing more single-family home sales in Miami, but we are seeing more homes and condos listed as seller confidence grows.”

What Zoller doesn’t mention is that seller confidence is a result of booming home prices, which is one of the major drivers suppressing condo sales, where buyers can’t find financing to handle heavy price tags.

According to data jointly compiled by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Federal Housing Administration, of the 8,523 condominium projects in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, only 29 have received FHA loans.

Danielle Blake, MIAMI’s senior vice president of government affairs and housing, said the association is pursuing several initiatives to expand financing options for existing condo buyers, but the already considerable gap is still growing and rising prices won’t help matters.

As we recently reported, Miami home prices are already 16 percent overvalued – among the highest in the nation.