According to the newly released Elliman reports, the Miami market is transitioning from this hyperbolic period that was unsustainable to a market with a more moderate pace.
For the mainland, sales dropped by 12.5% year-over-year, from 5,016 homes and condos sold last year to 4,390 in this year’s second quarter. Miami Beach fared much worse with sales declining 24.7%, from 1,186 deals during 2015’s second quarter to 893 this year.
One major reason behind the ongoing sales slowdown is oversupply: on the mainland, listing inventory for condos shot up by 35% to 5,120 active properties during the second quarter, while listing inventory for condos in Miami Beach jumped 20% to 9,306 units.
All that new inventory means sellers are taking longer to close deals. Time spent on the market doubled for many neighborhoods, with aggregate numbers showing an average of 103 days listed on the beach and 76 days for the mainland.
Price growth is also starting to become more conservative. Recent reports from research firm S&P Dow Jones show housing values in the tri-county area are rising by single-digits year-over-year compared to the double-digit appreciation in 2013 and 2014, when South Florida’s real estate market rocketed up from the recession. On the mainland, condo prices grew by 5.4% to $230,000 in the second quarter while on the beach, condo prices grew by 3.2% to $383,750.
As for the luxury segment, it’s starting to get volatile. The median sales price for a luxury condo plummeted 16.7% to $1 million per unit. Sales were also down: luxury condos saw 231 sales, down 13 percent year-over-year.
Strong dollar and weak economies in South America are fueling the sales slowdown. After the Great Recession, foreign buyers took advantage of a struggling dollar to scoop up Miami real estate, fueling the boom. With the currency situation reserved, international investors can’t compete at the same level.
Broward and Palm Beach counties, which rely less on international investors, generally fared better — according to the report.
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2016