Area homebuyers face higher prices

Region’s inventory of active listings increased in Broward, Palm Beach

Prospective homeowners in South Florida face a market rife with high price tags and mortgage interest rates. But with a rise in available listings, they’re also likely to find more choices when buying a home.

The region’s inventory, which is measured by the number of active listings, increased in both Broward and Palm Beach counties from February 2023 to February of this year, according to market reports by the Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors.

“It’s always a good thing to have inventory increase in this type of market,” said David Serle, the Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors’ president.

Palm Beach County leads the way, with more than 5,000 active listings of single-family homes in February 2024, a 26% change from last year when active listings of single-family homes hovered around 4,000.

Broward County’s inventory does not fall too far behind, with a 23% increase in single-family-home active listings from last year.

Townhouses and condos

The increase in active listings for townhouses and condos was even greater in both counties. Broward saw a jump from 4,547 listings last year to more than 8,000 this past February, a nearly 80% increase. In Palm Beach County, the trend was similar, with townhouse and condo listings rising from 3,973 to 6,242.

Even though prices tend to face less pressure to soar when inventory is higher, that doesn’t mean prices won’t still rise, especially in a region with high demand such as South Florida. Buyers in Palm Beach and Broward counties face higher median sale prices for homes now than around this time last year

“In theory, you’re diluting, and you should have lower prices,” said Patty Da Silva, a broker with Green Realty Properties in Cooper City. “It’s not happening, really.”

The latest sales prices

The year-over-year change for median sale prices for single-family homes is practically identi

cal in both counties at about 11%.

In Broward, the median sale price for a single family home in February of 2023 was $560,000 and is now $625,000. Similarly, in Palm Beach County, the median sale price for a single-family home in February 2023 was $549,500 and is now $615,000.

The increase for median sale price is not as strong for townhouses and condos in both counties. In Palm Beach County, the median price only went up about 5% from $300,000 to $314,000, and in Broward, from $272,000 to $290,000.

So, if you are looking to buy a single-family home but want to save a little bit, you might consider doing so in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, if you are looking for a townhouse or condo and want to spend a little less, consider looking for one in Broward County.” Some of the listings are just too overpriced,” Da Silva said. “Some of the inventory that you see, the excess inventory is just not sellable.”

Finding the right price

In an effort to see what price they may be able to get, sellers will list a home at a price that ends up falling back down.

Price adjustments, which are essentially just decreases, happen a lot, she said.

To Da Silva, inventory increases mean homes take longer to sell because people have more options to parse through; or “more flavors of ice cream to try.”

Prices won’t go down, she said, but they are likely to remain stable as inventory only continues to increase, she said.

For the next six months, pricing will “flatten to a certain degree,” Serle said, and inventory will continue to increase “a little bit.”