Thousands of tiny blue balloons will be floating above South Florida mailboxes during this weekend’s statewide mass open house event, the real-estate housing industry’s latest effort to pitch a simple message: Florida is still a great place to buy and own a home.
As the state’s official homeownership promotion campaign, dubbed “Welcome Home Florida Week,” kicked off Monday, the Miami Association of Realtors reported continued increases in home sales in February.
The sales report showed two trends—the volume of sales of existing homes is still climbing, and prices continue to reflect deep discounts as foreclosures and short sales dominate the market.
In Miami-Dade County, 859 condos traded hands in February, up 58 percent from the previous year. Single-family home sales increased 21 percent year-over-year to 540.
In Broward County, condo sales were up 19 percent in February to 1,357, the highest total since the real estate boom. Single-family home sales in Broward increased 16 percent to 909.
The sales bump came amid heavily discounted prices. In a surprising uptick, however, prices of single-family homes in Broward surged 22 percent to $167,000, and condo prices were up 4 percent to $67,100.
Terri Bersach, president of the Broward board of governors for the Miami Association of Realtors, said the sharp price increase in the single-family market is being sparked by local “move-up” buyers who are now confident enough to buy a larger home.
“Once we see that the local buyers are feeling the confidence to go out and move into a bigger house, that gets our real estate market moving,” she said.
Broward’s unemployment rate, about 10 percent, is lower than Miami-Dade’s 12 percent rate, and only in Broward have year-over-year price changes flirted with positive territory several times in the past 12 months. But single-family prices have been unable to sustain any kind of run in Broward—after a 9 percent rise in November, they fell 4 percent in December and another 5 percent in January. Cash-fueled bidding wars on foreclosures have been pushing up prices of late, and 69 percent of Broward’s February sales were done with 100 percent cash.
In Miami-Dade, sellers continued to slash prices, with the median-priced condo selling for $94,000, down 25 percent for the month. Median prices for single-family homes, fell to $147,900, down 23 percent from February 2010.
Statewide, median home prices fell 2 percent to $121,900, and condo prices slipped 14 percent to $77,300.
As thousands of potential buyers check out South Florida’s homes during Open House Weekend, real estate agents are likely to point to the prospect of price appreciation for homebuyers, many of whom fear that home values have not yet hit bottom.
“We are even seeing instances in certain neighborhoods with multiple offers above asking price, which is resulting in healthy absorption of housing inventory in Miami-Dade County,” said Jack Levine, chairman of the board for the Miami Association of Realtors.
As the spring selling season kicks into gear, real estate agents are touting low interest rates, an abundance of homes to choose from and prices that are on par with 2002, hoping to convince fence-sitting potential buyers to make the plunge.
Larry McDonald, a real estate agent who is trying to find a buyer for a Pinecrest luxury home listed at just under $1.8 million, will tie a blue balloon in front of the property on Sunday, opening the doors to serious house hunters as well as curious neighbors.
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