South Florida housing market lags nationwide
South Florida’s boiling real estate market isn’t the hottest in the nation — far from it.
Yes, prices are rising faster than they have in years. The median price for a home has grown by as much as 50% in some areas compared to the past year, and homebuyers fully expect a bidding war when they find a home.
But on a national scale, South Florida trails many metro areas in terms of inbound residents, rising home values and the number of days a home sits on the market.
Here’s what the numbers show.
Migration
The pandemic has pushed people toward states where they have more flexibility in where and how they work. According to migration data from Zillow, an online real estate marketplace, South Florida saw 15% more people move into the area than moving out, ranking it No. 19 out of 800 metro areas.
The biggest share of the people are coming from New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston and Chicago.
Areas like Phoenix; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas, ranked higher.
Home prices
In terms of growing home values, South Florida ranked toward the bottom eight of 100 metro areas that Zillow analyzed, increasing by 7.8% from February 2020 to February 2021. The national average was 9.9%. Despite exploding prices in some parts of the tri-county area, South Florida as a whole lagged behind other parts of the country as movers seek even more affordable areas.
Areas like Boise City, Idaho, saw 26.48% growth in home values. Phoenix recorded 18.28%; Spokane, Washington 17.32%; and Tampa 13.88%.
Home sales
The Miami metro area ranked in the top three in terms of year-over-year sales increase and in total number of sales in February.
For raw sales, the area was up 45%, according to data for February 2021, making it the third-highest market in terms of raw sales compared with the year before. Only Fort Myers and Chicago had higher percentages.
“Some sellers are afraid to put their house on the market because they are afraid they will have no where to go,” said Plantation-based real estate agent Laurie Finkelstein Reader
Competition is fierce. A house on the market can receive anywhere from five to seven offers to upwards of 50, she said.
Time on the market
Houses have been flying off the market in South Florida, but not as fast as most parts of the country.
The time on the market, from listing to pending sale, was 27 days for December 2020. Compared to last year, Palm Beach County dropped by 50% to 30 days; Broward County went down by 60% to 22 days; and Miami Dade fell 53% to 30 days.
“There is always something new on the market and it’s just gone in a day or two,” explained Realtor Jeff Grant in Palm Beach Gardens. “It might stay on the market longer than a day or two just because they are waiting to get 10 offers to the seller.”
But compared with the rest of the country, every area saw their homes disappear more quickly than South Florida. Only five markets had homes on the market longer: McAllen, Texas; Madison, Wisconsin; New York; Nashville, Tennessee; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.