Miami Single-Family Home Sales Surge in May

According to a recent press release, Miami’s single-family home market saw its best May in history with total home sales, median prices, dollar volume, traditional sales and luxury transactions surging.

During May 1344 Miami, 1344 single-family homes were sold which is the most in any May and is a 9.9% increase from the 1223 homes sold a year earlier. Sales of existing condos were up by 5.7% and total residential sales were up by 7.7%. The total dollar volume increased by 14.7% and transactions for single family luxury homes were up by 23.5%. During the past three months, sales of single family luxury homes costing $1 million or more have increased steadily.

Coral Gables Realtor, Christopher Zoller, the 2017 MIAMI chairman of the board said “Pent-up demand is fuelling a historic Miami homebuying season. Two months after posting its most March single-family home sales ever, Miami-Dade County broke another record for the most May sales. Local job growth and impending interest hikes are fuelling purchases.”

Apparently, the average commitment rate for a 30 year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.01% in May while the average commitment rate for the whole of 2016 was 3.65%.

The total existing Miami-Dade County residential sales increased 7.7% year-on-year, rising from 2532 to 2728. Sales of existing condominiums increased by 5.7% year-on-year from 1309 to 1384, despite the fact that they are competing with a robust new construction market. It is expected that the existing condo market could see future growth. The number of existing Miami condo properties that went under contract last month increased by 6.8% year-on-year while pending sales for single-family homes also increased by 5.4%.

One thing that could hinder future growth of the existing condominium market is a lack of access to mortgage loans. Out of the 9307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, just 12 have received approval for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 in 2016.

Despite price rises across the board, real estate in Miami is still regarded as being a bargain, with the average cost of condominiums in other major cities being considerably higher.