Miami’s housing market flourished in March, with residential sales and especially median sales price putting up strong numbers.
March marked yet another strong month of residential real estate for Miami-Dade County, with home sales, home prices and distressed property sales all showing progress.
According to the latest research by the Miami Association of Realtors (MAR), the median sales price for single-family homes in Miami rose 25.1 percent year-over-year in March and 16 percent from February; that’s the highest percentage increase for median sale price since 2005. Additionally, not only did median condo sales price rose 19.3 percent year-over-year, but March marks the 16th consecutive month that both single-family home and condo prices both rose.
Miami Housing Market Marching Along
Natascha Tello, the 2013 MAR chairman, said high demand and low supply has been fueling Miami’s market gains.
“The Miami real estate market is experiencing comprehensive strengthening fueled by robust demand and limited supply,” Tello said. “The local market has seen consistent double-digit appreciation for a significant number of months, while inventory declines in every price point, reflecting the demand that exists for all types of Miami properties.”
And housing inventory in Miami-Dade continued to fall in March, dropping 5.0 percent to just 11,995 active listings, or a 5.1-months supply for single-family homes and 5.9-months for condos. With inventory so low, it may have impacted Miami-Dade’s sales volume. Though sales were still positive in March, with single-family home sales up 6.1 percent and condo sales up 0.5 percent, they were less than previous months.
Facets of a Real Estate Market
The composition of those home sales, though, suggested improvement for Miami-Dade’s housing stock. Though 41 percent of all closed residential sales were for distressed properties, that’s down from 42.2 percent in February and 49 percent in March 2012.
As has been the case since early 2012, though, all-cash sales continued to drive the market, with 64 percent of total closed sales in March being financed with cash, though again, that’s down from 66.8 percent in February and 66.4 percent a year ago. And with 90 percent of foreign buyers in Florida completing their purchases all cash, it’s likely that high international demand for Miami’s real estate will keep that number high into the foreseeable future.