Sweetness abounds with home and condo sales continuing their positive streaks in Florida.
Year-over-year sales in Miami for both existing single-family homes and condominiums were sweet at oranges in September, rising 46 percent and 58 percent, respectively, according to new data from the Miami Association of Realtors (MAR).
Statewide sales also posted impressive yearly gains, increasing 10 percent for single-family homes and 10 percent for condominiums compared to September 2010.
Jack H. Levine, the chairman of the board for MAR, said Miami has only continued its strong sales performance with its September data.
“We continue to experience record sales activity coupled with rising median and average sales prices in the Miami real estate market,” Levine said. “At the current sales pace, the local market is expected to reach 29,000 transactions this year, which would set a sales record and would surpass the sales volume during the height of the boom in 2005.”
The international buyer trend seems to have factored strongly in the sales increases. Almost 90 percent of international buyers purchase their properties with cash, and the percentage of cash transactions rose to 63 percent in September, up one percent compared to the previous month. In total, cash sales accounted for 42 percent of single-family and 76 percent of condominium closings.
In September, the median sales price for condominiums rose for the second consecutive month, increasing by 17 percent to $116,000. The median sales price of single-family homes, though, was not as successful, decreasing six percent to $176,600 from a year earlier.
Statewide median sales prices increased one percent to $133,900 for single-family homes and seven percent to $87,200 for condominiums.