Residential Real Estate News
Greater Fort Lauderdale Area Residential Sales Down 31 Percent Annually in April
Yet listings inventory in Broward County explodes 70.8% year-over-year
According to the Miami Association of Realtors, Broward County Florida total home sales decreased 31.4% year-over-year in April 2023, from a historic 3,489 transactions in April 2022 to 2,393 in April 2023, because of rising mortgage rates, the recent banking crisis and overall economic uncertainty.
Most of the homes purchased in April 2023 came to terms in March when mortgage rates started at 6.71% before hitting 7.03% on March 7, 2023. Rates leveled off before recently rising again. Rates on March 1, 2022 were 3.90%.
Home sales are sensitive to mortgage rate changes. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35% as of May 11. That's down from 6.39% the previous week but up from 5.30% one year ago.
"Rising mortgage rates and the banking distress in March tripped up April's home sales," Miami Realtors' Chief Economist Gay Cororaton said. "But with inflation on the wane, I expect mortgage rates move towards 5.5% by year-end which will revive the housing rally we saw in the first quarter."
Broward single-family home sales decreased 28.3% year-over-year, from 1,509 in April 2022 to 1,082 in April 2023 because of its comparison to a historic month and the current market has lower inventory in specific price points and higher rates.
Broward existing condo sales decreased 33.8% year-over-year, from a historic 1,980 in April 2022 to 1,311 in April 2023, due to lack of inventory and rising mortgage rates.
Broward County single-family home median prices increased 2.7% year-over-year in April 2023, increasing from $560,000 to $575,000. Existing condo median prices increased 10.2% year-over-year, from $245,000 to $270,000.
Inventory for Broward single-family homes (2.5 months) and condos (3.3 months) are low. Also, one of the supports for home prices is rents and rents are up.
Total active listings at the end of April increased 70.8% year-over-year, from 4,142 to 7,073.
Inventory of single-family homes increased 53.9% year-over-year in April 2023 from 1,765 active listings last year to 2,717 last month. Condominium inventory increased 83.3% year-over-year to 4,356 from 2,377 listings during the same period in 2022.
New listings of Broward single-family homes decreased 26% to 1,344 from 1,816 year-over-year. New listings of condominiums decreased 7.4%, from 1,924 to 1,781 year-over-year.
Months' supply of inventory for single-family homes increased 108.3% to 2.5 months year-over-year, which indicates a seller's market. Inventory for existing condominiums increased 153.8% to 3.3 months, which also indicates a seller's market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six- and nine-months supply.
Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of April was 1.04 million units, up 7.2% from March and 1.0% from one year ago (1.03 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 2.9-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 2.6 months in March and 2.2 months in April 2022.
Only 0.9% of all closed residential sales in Broward were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, lower than 1.2% in April 2022.
Short sales and REOs accounted for 0.1% and 0.8% year-over-year, respectively, of total Broward sales in April 2023.
The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 96.7% in April 2023, down from 100% last year. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 96.1%, down from 100% last year.
The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Broward single-family home sales was 27 days, up from 12 days last year. The median time to sale for single-family homes was 67 days, up from 50 days last year.
The median number of days between the listing date and contract date for condos was 27 days, up from 13 days. The median number of days to sale for condos was 68 days, down from 56 days.
Cash sales represented 42.4% of Broward closed sales in April 2023, compared to 45.8% in April 2022. Breaking down cash sales by category, 57.9% of all Broward existing condo sales and 23.6% of single-family transactions.
