In Broward County, condominium sales increased 17 percent from 1,192 last month compared to 1,233 January 2010 and 132 percent compared to January 2009, according to the 25,000-member MIAMI Association of Realtors and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). Single-family home sales increased 8.7 percent in January and were 60 percent higher than they were two years ago.
Fort Lauderdale Beach, Fla. - Image by Zach Klein
Statewide sales increased 36 percent to 6,681 for condominiums and 14 percent for single-family homes to 12,151. Nationally, sales of existing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops rose 2.7 percent from December but were 2.3 percent above January 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
“Current statistics, which include expanded data to reflect all sales in Broward County, point to the strength of our real estate market,” says Terri Bersach, 2011 president of the Broward County Board of Governors of the MIAMI Association of Realtors. “We always knew the statistics reported did not reflect the reality of the market and it is important that now all sales from all associations are now being reported in the Fort Lauderdale MSA.”
Median and Average Sales Price
The median sales price of condominiums in the Fort Lauderdale Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) increased two percent to $68,900 compared to January 2010. The median sales price for single-family homes was $165,100, down five percent from a year prior.
The average sales price for single-family homes increased 10.9 percent, from $227,846 in January 2010 to $252,583 last month. The average sales prices for condominiums dropped 9.6 percent, from $118,353 to $106, 957.
Statewide median sales prices decreased 18 percent to $79,400 for condominiums and 7 percent to $122,200 for single-family homes. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $158,800 in January, a 3.7 percent drop from January 2010.
“New data collection method has resulted in a more accurate perspective of the performance of the Broward County real estate market,” says Natascha Tello, president-elect of the Broward County Board of Governors of the MIAMI Association of Realtors. “These numbers are an indication of the increased market activity in the entire MSA.”
Inventory Levels Decrease Again
The inventory of residential listings in Broward County decreased 11.2 percent from 21,189 to 18,826 since February 2010, according to the SEFMLS. Compared to last month, the total inventory of homes decreased 5.4 percent. Total housing inventory nationally fell 5.1 percent at the end of January.
Broward Statistics Expanded
Beginning with the January 2011 statistics, the Ft. Lauderdale MSA data includes all MLS sales in Broward County from all three associations in the market. Previously only the sales from the Realtor Association of Greater Ft. Lauderdale (RAGFL) were included as “Ft. Lauderdale.” The category has now been expanded to appropriately include all of the Ft. Lauderdale MSA, which also includes sales in Broward County by the Miami Association of Realtors (MIAMI) and the South Broward Board of Realtors (SBBOR).
The recent merger of the three associations in Miami-Dade County initiated a change in the compilation of the statistics and identification that the “Ft. Lauderdale” sales market needed to be expanded to include the Ft. Lauderdale MSA and the sales from the other associations in the market. Since only approximately 60 percent of the sales were reported as Ft. Lauderdale by RAGFL, the other 40 percent of the market had not been included at all. The January 2010 comparison has been adjusted to also include aggregated numbers.
The Broward market (Ft. Lauderdale MSA) has been showing a loss in sales while Broward County has actually been experiencing an increase in sales when the entire MSA and data from all three associations is included. At one time, RAGFL represented a very high percentage of all sales in Broward County, but now the MIAMI and SBBOR Associations represent approximately 50 percent of the Realtors in Broward County and correspondingly a growing percentage of the sales, and therefore will be included in the figures from now on.