2015 proved a very positive year for real estate in Miami, according to MIAMI, but what’s in store for 2016?

The Miami-Dade housing market set new records in 2015, according to the latest housing analysis from the Miami Association of Realtors (MIAMI).

Existing single-family homes, MIAMI reported, rose 3.1 from 2014 to 2015, closing out the year with 13,936 sales; that was the most single-family sales in Miami-Dade history, and marked the third straight year of record-breaking sales.

Meanwhile, overall existing sales (single family and condos) fell slightly, dropping from the 29,930 sales of 2014 to 29,886 sales; still, 2015 was the third strongest year of sales in Miami-Dade history behind 2014 and 2013.

Mark Sadek, the 2016 MIAMI Chairman of the Board, credited a number of factors in Miami’s strong 2015 performance.

“Miami real estate had a banner year in 2015,” Sadek said. “Miami’s strong local jobs market, population increase, historically-low mortgage interest rates and South Florida’s continued growth as a world-class global region all played key roles in the strong sales. We see many of these factors carrying over to 2016.”

Miami-Dade Real Estate in 2015

Other details from MIAMI’s report included:

• Existing-condo sales declined 2.8 percent from 2014 to 2015, closing out the year with 15,950 sales.
• The median sales price for single-family homes rose 8.2 percent in 2015 to $245,000, while for condos, the median sales price rose 5.3 percent to $200,000.
• All-cash sales comprised 51.8 percent of Miami’s market, which is more than double the 24-percent national average; still, that is down from the 57.2 percent market share in 2014. All-cash sales were much more popular with condos than single-family homes, with 65.4 percent of the specific market to single-family’s 36.4 percent.
• The market share for distressed sales also declined, falling from 33.7 percent in 2014 to 27 percent in 2015.

A Tale of Two Markets

MIAMI’s report spotlighted a very interesting divide that has emerged in the South Florida market, with single-family homes on one side and condos on another.

While the single-family homes market is still a seller’s market – inventory declined 6.8 percent in 2015 to a 5.2-months supply – the condo market is increasingly becoming a buyer’s market, with inventory rising 13.2 percent to a 9.5-months supply; a balanced market is generally between five and six months of inventory.

Some analysts have raised flags on Miami-Dade’s high levels of condo construction, and indeed, MIAMI’s report reinforced just how much development is currently taking place in the metro area. East of I-95, Miami-Dade has seen 39 towers with 3,729 united completed since 2011, and there are 73 more towers (and 10,059 more units) currently under construction – not to mention the 65 towers (and 9,134 units) that are planned, but have not yet broken ground.