Modern South Florida Homes


 
Overshadowed by the Thanksgiving holiday, _November sales of single family homes tend to begin quiet and then come to a slow crawl.

The last part of that statement will be seen in December, but overall there certainly wasn't much movement. However, inventory keeps falling, with stable prices, which in itself is astonishing.
  • Houses for sale: 20,031 (-1.6%)
  • Inventory: 6.9 mos (-6.4%)
  • Median list price: 301,500 (+0.5%)
  • Median list price per sf: $143 (no change)
  • Houses sold last month: 3,065 (+4.8%)
  • Median selling price: $189,467 (no change)
  • Median selling price per sf: $97 (no change)
Though inventory is over 17% lower in November 2011 than November 2010, year over year
prices have dropped by 10%. So dwindling inventory does not always equate rising or even stable prices.

At least so far.
_Table: single family home data per month’s end for Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade (Florida) counties. Changes are month-over-month.
Chart: Single family home data Dec 2010 to Nov 2011. Red: median list price, green: median selling price, blue: inventory in months. – Data compiled from SEF-MLS
 
 
THE SINGLE FAMILY HOME MARKET

The market for single family homes in Southeast Florida (three counties Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade) in June proved the old saying again


“In the month of June, housing sales see a boon”.

Ahem. Now you also know why some persons were not admitted into Rapping 101.

Seriously: as in the last four years, June is the month so far with the highest number of SFH closings in all three counties (in 2009 it tied with December).


Those June closings would have been signed into contract in April or May.

Does that mean buyers want to buy before school’s out? Before it gets too hot? Before Memorial Day? This Realtor is at a loss to explain.

Some people may argue that winter should be the peak real estate season, when the Florida population swells and there are more potential buyers around, especially from colder climates. But not so, at least not for single family homes.

Another oddity: while inventory keeps tightening, prices still slide – not every month, but certainly year over year; minus 5.0 percent in this case. Go figure.


The June numbers:
  • SFH for sale: 21,318  (-3.2%)
  • Inventory (months): 6  (-9.0%)
  • Median list price: $293,150  (-0.4%)
  • Median list price per sf: $142  (no change)
  • Houses sold last month: 3,536  (6.9%)
  • Median selling price: $192,000  (0.3%)
  • Median selling price per sf: $101  (-0.3%)
South Florida single family home statistics June 2011 © Tobias Kaiser, modern home specialist
Table: all single family homes per SEF-MLS; data per month’s end. Percent changes are month-over-month. – Chart: SFH data June 2010 to June 2011. Red: median list price, green: median selling price, blue: that's the dwindling inventory, in months. – Data source: SEF-MLS


THE MODERN HOME MARKET

Despite what it looks like – a modernist inventory spike in June – there really isn’t one. Easy to say. But it doesn’t feel like an upswing in inventory; quite in contrast.

As explained last month, the number of available homes under $1M shrank by 25% year over year, the number offered under $500K went down by a hefty 45%. The little inventory uptick in June (per June 30th to 255 modern homes) has already been erased – as of writing this post, it is down again. And so are absolute listing and selling prices.


(Data and graph temporarily not available – sorry)

Thinking about selling your modern home and need an inside perspective of the modernist market?

Out to buy, and need a Realtor who gets modernism?

Then please call me at 954.834.3088 or email me anytime – and until next month!