Florida Real Estate Has Always Been Boom or Bust
For buyers seeking a new home is South Florida there is a lot of frustration these days. Inventories of available homes has been dropping rapidly. The rate of the drop has been increasing over the past four to six months. At the end of 2010 there were just over 20,000 homes for sale on the Greater Ft Lauderdale MLS. This includes both condos and single family homes. At the end of 2012 there was just over 10,000 active listings. The inventory trend is downward and accelerating. Today there are exactly 9,464 active listings. That is better than a 5% drop just since the beginning of the year.
I look at my expired listings report from the MLS everyday. (Today's report is pictured)It used to be a good source of new listings. In the past there could be 20 to 50 a day in my market area. These days it's usually just a few and they are mostly just the grossly overpriced listings. The number of closed and pending listings is rapidly outpacing the new listings. I see this trend continuing until prices rise to the point where more sellers are no longer under water with their loans. We are still at the price levels we saw in 2002 and 2003. When we get to price levels of 2004-5 when activity was red hot that's when the log jam should break.
The history of Florida real estate has always been boom or bust. We went through a protracted period of bust, so get ready for another boom. Some will disagree, but here is why I believe this to be true. Just remember for 5 years there was virtually no building of new homes here in South Florida. The population has continued to increase. Interest rates are still near historic lows. Unemployment is trending downward. Just wait, before long all the talk will be about the next housing bubble and how the prices of Florida real estate has become unaffordable.
Serving The Greater Fort Lauderdale area since 2006
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