South Florida home sales were on the rise in May and many local prices either rose, or showed less significant declines than recent median prices-demonstrating hopeful signs of nearby stabilization, said The Miami Herald.


In May, approximately 875 single-family homes were sold in Miami-Dade County- a 20 percent increase from May 2010; in addition to an increased volume of home sales, 1,420 condos were sold last month-an increase of 46 percent of condo sales since last May.

While the monthly increase is not as significant as the yearly percentage increases, the changes were still fairly noticeable, with a 5.4 percent rise in home sales since April, and a 1.1 percent rise in condo sales.

The attraction toward condos is not entirely surprising, as recent data has shown that South Florida has a large inventory, precisely athree-year supply of vacant condominiums.

Miami’s condo market displayed a median price of $124,300-a drop of only one percent, said The Miami Herald. Miami-Dade’s single-family homes were averaging a median price of $180,200-a slightly more worrisome drop of eight percent.

On a national scale it is reported that home sales have dropped over 15 percent year-over-year, accompanied by a 4.6 percent drop in prices.

The Commerce Department also recently reported that fewer people bought new homes last month, a drop of 2.1 percent in May that has left economists with the unfortunate expectation that the market will not rebound this year. New homes make up about 20 percent of overall market.

So while Miami has experienced a slight surge in home sales, and more optimistic pricing, a full-fledged recovery is still not estimated to be around the corner.