South Florida condo sales slower than single family home sales, according to Miami Association of Realtors. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Home sales are up in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, bucking a national trend that indicates a market slowdown is on the horizon. Across the U.S., total home sales dipped 1.1% in May compared to the same period a year ago, but the three Florida counties experienced bumps between 3.9% and 6.6% last month compared to May 2018, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
The Association’s chairman José María Serrano said wealthy northeasterners are driving the sales growth. “Miami’s lifestyle coupled with a growing economy, new tax laws and low mortgage rates continue fueling the market,” Serrano said. “Miami has now posted more single-family and condo sales in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year.”
According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 4.07% in May, down from 4.14% in April. In 2018, the average commitment rate was 4.54%. However, a lack of access to mortgage loans for condominiums is stunting growth in that segment of the South Florida housing market. Of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, only 12 are approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the FHA.
In Miami-Dade, there was a total of 2,796 home sales in May, a 6.6 % increase compared to the same month last year. Broward had 3,376 total home sales, representing a year-over-year increase of 5.9 %, and the 3,323 total home sales in Palm Beach represented an increase of 3.9 %.
Yet condos are not moving as fast single family houses in the tri-county region. For instance, in Miami-Dade, single family house sales increased 10.2%, but condo sales increased by 3.5%. Statewide, closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 30,742 last month, up 9.6% over May 2018. Florida’s condo-townhouse market saw a total of 12,217 closed sales, just a 1.6% increased compared to last year.
It’s also taking sellers longer to unload properties. According to the report, the median number of days between listing and finalizing contracts was 59 days for Miami-Dade, a 34.1% increase from the previous year in May. In Broward, it was 43 days, up from 34 days in May 2018. And in Palm Beach, the median number of days is 56 days, a 9.8% increase compared to same period last year.