August 6, 2009
The Miami region’s median sale price inched higher than the prior month for the second month in a row in June but remained 37 percent lower than a year ago and 45 percent below its June 2007 peak. The number of homes sold rose above the year-ago mark for the fourth consecutive month despite historically low new-home sales, a real estate information service reported.
In June, 7,722 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the region encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 17.5 percent from May and up 20.6 percent from 6,404 in June 2008, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Total escrow closings were the second-lowest for a June – behind last year – since at least 1997, when DataQuick’s complete Miami region stats begin. June marked the fourth consecutive month in which the region’s sales have risen on a year-over-year basis.
Resales of single-family houses and condos have risen on an annual basis for seven straight months. Sales of newly built homes, which were at a record low last month for a June, have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 37 consecutive months.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined last month was $160,000, up 3.3 percent from May but down 37.3 percent from $255,000 in June 2008. The June median stood 44.8 percent below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007. The median’s 3.3 percent gain over May’s level followed a 0.6 percent rise in May over April. Before May, the median hadn’t risen from one month to the next since March 2008, when it rose 1.1 percent.
June’s $105,000 median for resale condos marked a 52.1 percent decline from the $219,000 peak in July 2006, while June’s $187,750 median for resale single-family detached houses was 44.8 percent off its $340,000 peak in June 2007.
Another price gauge analysts monitor, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family (detached) houses, rose slightly to $107 in June. That was up from $105 in April and $106 in May, but down 29.5 percent from a year ago and down nearly 49.3 percent from the Miami region’s $211 peak in summer 2006. The median paid per square foot has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 33 consecutive months.
A popular form of financing used by first-time home buyers – government-insured FHA loans – accounted for 42 percent of all June purchases, while absentee buyers bought 31 percent of all homes last month, according to an analysis of public property records. Absentee buyers are often investors, but could include second-home buyers and others who, for various reason, have their property tax bill sent to an address other than that of the home they’ve purchased.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach MSA
| Number of sales | Jun-08 | Jun-09 | %Chng |
| Resale houses | 3,070 | 3,862 | 25.80% |
| Resale condos | 2,148 | 3,275 | 52.50% |
| New homes | 1,186 | 585 | -50.70% |
| All homes | 6,404 | 7,722 | 20.60% |
| Median price | Jun-08 | Jun-09 | %Chng |
| Resale houses | $275,000 | $187,750 | -31.70% |
| Resale condos | $178,500 | $105,000 | -41.20% |
| New homes | $324,000 | $270,000 | -16.70% |
| All homes | $255,000 | $160,000 | -37.30% |
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157
Copyright 2009 MDA DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.