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June 2017 Market Stats

Market Stats for June 2017 – Broward County – Single Family Homes and Condominiums

Prices for homes and condos in Broward County are up YTY for June, while closed sales are down. We attribute the lower number of sales to tight inventory along with quality issues. Backing up this theory is the slight decline in market time. List price to sale price ratio remains tight at 96% – no change YTY. It’s a sellers market for single family homes with under four months supply of inventory. The condo market is more balanced, with six months supply, however figures are skewed with plenty of junk on the market and quality homes still selling in a matter of weeks.

Fort Lauderdale Housing Market

My Market Insider provides a wealth of information that will help you better understand the factors that impact the real estate market. Consider this page your reference library for resources, tips, and techniques. Whether you’re a buyer or seller, the knowledge you gain will help put you in control of your real estate transactions. Gain valuable insight into a community by looking at household incomes, crime risk, education levels attained, and potential for extreme weather. Use the map to locate points of interest like shopping, restaurants, and healthcare services.

These reports are updated in real time and broken down by neighborhood throughout Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities.

I can provide a more in-depth analysis for a particular neighborhood. Contact me if I can share anything with you.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Las Olas Isles – zip code 33301

Near North, Victoria Park, Middle River, Central Beach – zip code 33304

Wilton Manors to the southern Corals – zip code 33305

Southeast Oakland Park – zip code 33306

Coral Ridge Country Club, Bay Club, the northern Corals and Imperial Point – zip code 33308

North Fort Lauderdale and Central Oakland Park – zip code 33334

West Fort Lauderdale and West Wilton Manors – zip code 33311

Lauderdale West, South Fort Lauderdale, Riverside, Lauderdale Isles – zip code 33312

Downtown South, Marina Mile and Fort Lauderdale Airport – zip code 33315

Rio Vista, Lauderdale Harbours, Harbor Beach – zip code 33316

Hesitant to sell in today’s market because you’d also have to buy? Not so fast…

Conventional wisdom has it that when you sell, and might buy in the same market, you’ll be buying in the same market conditions as well. You’d be mostly right, but not always. It pays to have a grasp of what’s happening in different segments of the market and take advantage when conditions are right.

At the moment, the South Florida market is pretty hot. Single family home inventory is low and good inventory sells quickly – often with multiple bidders. If you’re trying to buy in the “Sweet Spot” right now – between $300,000 and $500,000 – you’re probably having challenging time. It’s even more competitive if you’re shopping for a single family home below $300,000 – the market is best described as “insane.”

But what if you’re in a position to “move up?”

You bought your current home a few years ago or more, and you’ve taken great care of it. Today you find yourself seeking more space, perhaps a pool, or more bedrooms? Your current home that you bought for $250,000 is now in that magical sweet spot and should sell for $400,000 – that would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Except you’re worried that selling at the top of the market means that you’ll also be buying at the top of the market? Maybe not so. This is why having an expert in in the market can pay big dividends for you.

That new home priced between $500,00 and $700,000 might be a pretty good deal right now. The market for homes priced higher than yours is not as hot. Sluggish even? Check out the stats…

Your current home priced between $300,000 and $500,000 is clearly in the heart of “Seller’s Market” territory. However take a look a that $500,000 to $700,000. Almost into “Buyer’s Market” territory.

Check out the next slide. Non-distressed homes priced between $500,000 to $700,000 are even further into the “Buyer’s Market” territory. See what I mean? There’s opportunity here for a buyer in just the right situation. Could that be you?

Check out the last slide: Current market conditions are favorable in several price ranges to take advantage of a hot market to sell in, and a sluggish market to buy in. Despite the lower total number of sales in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range, the number is primarily due to lack of decent inventory. Price increases in the same range are steep. So if you’re ready for a leap into the $500,000 to $700,000 price range, moving up from nearly any price point is advantageous.

The same can be said for moving from $750,000 into any price point over $1-million. If you might be interested in a condominium priced over $1-million the market is truly your oyster. Sluggishness in the new-construction market has caused developers to offer a slew of new incentives to capture a dwindling number of buyers that are interested in luxury condos.

I have more information available and if there’s a particular segment of the market that you are interested in, please reach out. I’d be pleased to share what I have.

Florida has 4 of top 10 retirement cities

From the website Wallet Hub: The financial website rated 150 U.S. cities on affordability, health care, activities and quality of life. Of 11 Fla. cities in the study, all ranked above average.

According to WalletHub, its analysts compared the affordability, quality of life, health care and availability of recreational activities in the 150 largest U.S. cities. They used a data set of 31 key metrics that ranged from “cost of living” to “public-hospital rankings” and “percentage of the 65 and older population.”

Top 10 retirement cities in the U.S.

1. Orlando
2. Tampa
3. Scottsdale, Ariz.
4. Miami
5. Sioux Falls, S.D.
6. Las Vegas
7. Cape Coral
8. Atlanta, Ga.
9. Minneapolis
10. Los Angeles

Other Florida city rankings

13. Fort Lauderdale
15. Port St. Lucie
21. St. Petersburg
26. Pembroke Pines
40. Hialeah
63. Tallahassee
68. Jacksonville

WalletHub provides an example of its rating system – individual trait rankings that, when combined, provide a total score by city:

Retirement-friendliness of Orlando (1=Best; 75=Avg.)

No. 70 – Adjusted cost of living
No. 42 – Annual cost of in-home services
No. 21 – Number of recreation & senior centers per capita
No. 19 – number of adult volunteer activities per capita
No. 27 – Emotional health
No. 43 – ‘Mild weather’ ranking
No. 1 – Number of home-care facilities per capita

For the full report, visit WalletHub’s website.

Economic outlook for Broward County

At Keller Williams we pride ourselves on watching the market very carefully to be able to advise our clients to the best of our ability. To that end I’ve been examining the economic outlook for Broward County and its impact on both our residential and commercial real estate market.

Demand and rents soar

Growing payroll and a new wave of relocations from outside Florida are major contributing factors to a thriving multi-family sector in Broward County. This year more than 18,500 new jobs were created in Broward County; mostly in the private sector.

Tenant demand continues to rise in the midst of a new construction cycle, forcing rents upward throughout our market.

For the first time since 2000 there is a short supply of single-family houses and apartments for rent.

Related Group—which is the largest development company in the region—has plans that include more than $1-billion in new development for thousands of apartments in Davie, Pembroke Pines, Plantation and Fort Lauderdale. Nearly 900 units are being developed in the Fort Lauderdale sub-market.

Vacancy rates in the county are around 4.7%. The Broward County apartment sector ended the third quarter of 2014 with the second lowest vacancy rate among the three South Florida counties. The average rent is projected to go up to $1,311 per month.

Capital continues to rush into the apartment sector. Small private investors are dominant in the market thanks to acquisition debt available at higher leverage.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to underwrite 5, 7 and 10 year loans and offer maximum leverage of at least 80% in most markets. The interest rates are historically low.

Here is some other important information: Do you know that in October, the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area was named a hot spot among the nation’s top college towns for multi-family investment?

We’ve got incredible opportunity for growth in Fort Lauderdale. I believe that in six to seven years Fort Lauderdale will be one of the hottest areas in the country.

Why are these statistics important? Because I want to convey to my clients that whether they are considering a house to live in, or an acquisition of an investment property, that we will be facing a housing shortage in a few years. Today’s interest rates could not be more attractive and prices here in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County are still remarkably affordable.

Florida leads nation in cash-only home sales

The Florida Association of Realtors posted an interesting article yesterday about the number of sales that are cash transactions and how Florida is leading the nation in cash sales.

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=1&id=296212

Some of the more interesting statistics from the article:

Florida led the nation last month with what one expert called an “astounding” rate of all-cash home sales: 66 percent, a new report shows.

Among Florida’s metropolitan areas, Brevard County had the highest rate of cash deals: Seven out of every 10 house sales last month went for cash. Next in line was the giant metro area that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach; 69 percent of all sales there were all-cash deals.

The buyers seem to be predominantly foreign buyers who view Florida condominiums and homes as a solid investment without much risk.

Much of the cash buying in South Florida is from foreigners who view condominiums as safe investments. In the past year, large funds have entered the region, buying single-family homes and renting them out for a year or longer. The Blackstone Group of New York and California-based Waypoint Homes are two of the larger funds buying in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Another interesting stat from the article, speaks about the national Private Equity firms and institutional buyers who HAD been buying up homes in droves have moved on to markets where there is more inventory to choose from and not quite as overheated market conditions.

Private-equity firms and institutional buyers have been actively picking up Florida’s lower-priced houses, fixing them up, and renting them for some time already, but those buyers are moving on to other states, RealtyTrac’s report shows. During July, institutional buyers drove 22 percent of the home sales in Georgia, 16 percent in Nevada, 15 percent in Arizona and 14 percent in Florida.

These institutional buyers made national headlines in recent months as they purchased distressed homes in bulk, renovated them and rented them out in record numbers throughout Florida.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate/nearly-700-florida-foreclosures-sold-in-bulk-to-pr/nR7LM/

But it seems that these institutional buyers are looking towards greener pastures. Or at least a market that’s not so competitive as Florida this year.

Buyers becoming more frantic trying to compete with investors

From my monthly report from Credit Suisse and their survey of real estate agents nationwide on what they’re seeing in the marketplace, another solid indicator of how quickly the market has turned around.

Traffic levels exceeded agents’ expectations in the region during the month of May, and 88% of agents reported that home prices increased in the most recent 30 days compared to the previous month.

Some of the comments from agents…

People who qualify to buy want to right now as prices are going up. But there are not enough properties out there and they are being bought up by cash buyers, finance deals are hard right now.

Rentals are getting expensive and are hard to find in desirable neighborhoods.

Prices going up frees some owners who are above water and can sell now.

We are definitely seeing the supply of homes remain tight, which is in-turn leading to shorter times to sell. But the plus side is that the rising prices means that more home owners will be able to sell leading to (hopefully) some more inventory.

Distressed sales plummeting as inventory is absorbed

With so much talk in the news about the Shadow Inventory of homes I wanted to take a moment to look at the data to see if the hype is living up to reality.

What we’re seeing is that the states that were hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, namely Florida in particular, actually worked through their foreclosed inventory more quickly than other parts of the country and it appears that lenders are doing a good job of selling off their REO inventory rather efficiently.

We’ve seen lenders doing a great job of selling their inventory both through retail channels (listing with Realtors who are placing the homes for sale through the MLS and traditional marketing) and through bulk sales to investors.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/12/us-housing-foreclosed-bofa-idUSBRE83B1LY20120412

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/real-estate/nearly-700-florida-foreclosures-sold-in-bulk-to-pr/nR7LM/

We’re seeing the percentage of distressed sales decrease dramatically as a percentage of all homes sold. Nationwide figures indicate that distressed properties are currently 21% of sales, down from as much as 35% of sales back in January of 2012.

If you’re curious about what’s happening in your neighborhood, check out a market report that’s customized for your neighborhood zip code here.

Cheaper to buy than rent in most metro markets

Even though asking home prices rose 7.0% in the last year, outpacing rent increases of 3.2%, the gap between buying and renting has narrowed only slightly. One year ago, buying was 46% cheaper than renting. Today’s it’s 44% cheaper to buy versus rent. In fact, homeownership is cheaper than renting in all of America’s 100 largest metros.

Check out the interactive map over at http://trends.truliablog.com/vis/rentvsbuy-winter-2013

Credit Suisse Monthly Survey of Real Estate Agents shows Traffic Slumping as Buyers Still Fear Uncertainty

Buyer traffic in September appears to have worsened as the index of Realtor Activity slid further to its lowest point since last December.

Even the investor demand that has carried the market recently appeared to fizzle, judging by the comments from agents, while traditional buyers remain frozen by a lack of confidence and inability to get financing. According to one agent, “Since the fallout over the credit ceiling debate in August the market has dropped significantly with buyers willing to stand on the sidelines. Buyer confidence has been rattled further with many buyers opting to rent instead of buy and wait to see how the economy pans out. Buyers expect further price declines and they are waiting for the new wave of foreclosure properties to be released by the end of this year before they move on any buying opportunity. It looks like the market will be in a funk until we have those foreclosures on the market and until better direction, confidence and a clear economic direction are defined.”

A bright spot continues to be continued interest in prime leisure property from foreign investors and vacationers.

Prices seem to be stable and on-market inventory declined. Buyers are worried about a large shadow-inventory still held by banks that will need to be sold in the coming months and years.

Comments from real estate agents:

“The bad economic news 24 hours a day is causing many buyers to put purchasing on hold. Until the unemployment rate goes down I do not see the market improving. Too many middle income buyers are starting to worry about their jobs..”