Pending South Florida home sales up over a year ago.
International and cash buyers were never eligible for the federal home buyer tax credit, so when the subsidy expired on April 30, their continued interest in South Florida real estate partially shielded the region from the massive sales fall-off that took place nationally.
In June, pending home sales in Miami-Dade County increased 53 percent when compared to the same month last year. Potential home buyers signed 10,366 sales contracts in June, a 1 percent decrease from the month before, according to figures released Thursday by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches. In Broward, pending sales were up 28.7 percent since June 2009, and down 2.7 percent for the month to 8,031.
In the two months since the tax credit expired, pending sales in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have fallen 2.6 percent, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches, or RAMB.
But that decrease is relatively mild when compared to the sharp drop-off in sales that took place nationally after the federal subsidy expired. The first post-tax-credit pending sales numbers, released Thursday, showed a 15.9 percent decrease in pending sales between April and May, figures from the National Association of Realtors show. Year-over-year, pending sales plunged 30 percent.
Locally, condominium sales were stronger than single-family homes sales, with large increases year-over-year and slight decreases for the month. In Miami-Dade, 5,876 contracts were signed, up 76.4 percent since May 2009 and down 0.64 percent since the previous month.
In Broward, the 4,429 pending condo sales in June represent an increase of 56 percent for the year and a decrease of 2.3 percent for the month.
Partly supporting sales in lieu of tax credits: low prices. Condo prices remain far below their peak, with May median sales prices standing at $81,500 in Broward and $126,100 in Miami-Dade, where prices dropped another 10 percent from May 2009.
Single-family home sales have seen median prices slowly begin to increase in the past few months, rising to $196,700 in Miami-Dade and $216,400 in Broward in May.
In Miami-Dade, pending sales of single-family homes increased 31 percent in June from the previous year, to 4,490, a 1.15 percent decrease for the month.
In Broward, June pending sales of single-family homes rose 20.6 percent year-over-year, but dropped 2.7 percent month-over-month. Broward buyers signed 3,602 contracts in June, down from 3,719 in May.
