The real estate market in Miami continues to be one of the most popular in the US, both among domestic investors and international ones. March saw this market experience strong sales growth compared to the same time a year before, according to data released by the Miami Association of Realtors.
Year-on-year growth in transaction volumes for single family homes reached into double-digit figures, rising by around 10%. This is particularly impressive when it is considered that 2014 was already a record year for the market. Condominium sales also rose 4.2% compared to March of last year. This was aided by an upturn in construction of new condos, but existing properties also experienced an increase in transaction numbers.
Despite growth in sales, prices in Miami’s real estate market remain affordable. Despite consistently increasing in value year-on-year for the past four years, single family homes still remain at the same levels seen in 2004. Condos are in a similar situation, remaining comparatively affordable despite growing in value for all but one of the past 46 months.
Prices are, however, continuing to grow. Indeed, in March single family homes saw even greater growth in median sales values than they did in transaction volumes. March 2004 saw a median sales price of US$235,000, but this year the figure grew by 10.6% to become US$260,000. However, the mean sales price for single family homes experienced rather more modest sales growth – increasing 3.2% from US$459,102 in March 2014 to US$473,677 in March this year.
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For condos, meanwhile, the median sales price rose by 7.5% year-on-year, reaching US$215,000 in March this year compared to US$200,000 in 2014. The average sale price rose from last year’s US$377,290 level to US$398,994 in March, representing overall growth of 5.8%.
In a climate of strong demand, from international investors as well as US buyers, many properties are being sold at or close to their asking prices. On average, a sale of a single family home in Miami this March saw that property achieve 94.6% of its original list price. This is a decrease compared to the same time a year ago, but only by a negligible 0.3%. The median length of time a property of this type spent on the market was 54 days, a year-on-year increase of 14.9%.
Condominiums spent a median of 60 days on the market, an increase of just 1.7% over 2014. They achieved on average 93.5% of their original list price – down 0.7% compared to March last year.
Interestingly, Miami receives more than twice as many cash buyers as the nationwide average. Nationally, 24% of transactions are made with cash. In Miami, on the other hand, March saw 54.2% of sales made to cash buyers.
Unlike most types of property transaction, distressed property purchases in Miami are falling. March 2015 saw them account for 28% of all residential property sales, but twelve months earlier this figure stood at 31.6%.
