New survey indicates a growing confidence in the stability of the Miami housing market.

It is hard to qualify the recent success or growth of any particular housing market as sustainable, considering the tumultuous period that led to the collapse of the housing bubble and subsequent economic crisis. But a recent survey conducted by Miami’s Master Brokers Forum, or MBF, which brings together the city’s top residential real estate agents, discovered a strong sense of confidence in the local market’s ongoing recovery.

Comprised of only three questions, MBF designed the survey to quickly and succinctly establish respondents’ expectations for how the market will fair in the remainder of 2014, specifically pointing to home prices and potential threats to the market. Not surprisingly, the growing disparity between what buyers are will to pay and what sellers are asking for was named as the number one concern for Miami brokers, but more than 90 percent said they fully expect prices in the city to either stay flat or rise gradually over the next sixe months. To put it simply: They’re not that worried.

A Good Year for Miami

The responses from MBF’s survey signal a swell of confidence, not just in the state of Miami’s market but also in its ability to stabilize and remain lucrative and fruitful in the future. Findings include:

• The second most prevalent threat to the market was identified as “concerns about another real estate bubble,” named by 20 percent of respondents. The third was an over-abundance of pre-construction downtown and Miami Beach condominiums with 17 percent.
• Only 10 percent named Miami as a buyer’s market, while 44 percent say it’s a seller’s market and 46 percent say it’s simply too close to call.

What We Gather

Whether or not the survey is indicative of the popular attitudes in Miami remains to be seen, but Miami MBF Chair Jeff Morr seems unshakably sure in the results.

“It’s important to recognize that the MBF is a diverse collective of professionals from a variety of Miami neighborhoods – so numbers like this indicate very clear, across-the-board consensus opinion,” he says. “The survey signals sober and thoughtful confidence from experienced veterans of our market’s dramatic up and down cycles.”

Morr adds that he takes “assurance” knowing the respondents submitted such thoughtful and true answers, specifically in regards to the threats facing Miami. He says that suspicions about a second bubble and the “ever-expanding pipeline of new condos indicate clear-headed, open eyed-awareness” to the local market.