Sellers sprint to find new home

South Florida’s rapacious housing recovery and inventory shortage has left some home sellers scrambling for a new place to live, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Buyers are competing for a shrinking supply of single-family homes, leading to bidding wars, surging prices and record-speed sales, the newspaper said.

“I had one client say to me that she had to go to the gym first,” said Jon Klein, a real estate broker in Broward and Palm Beach counties quoted in the article. “I had to tell her, ‘What’s more important? The gym or buying a house? You’re going to be homeless.'”

In Broward, at the end of February, it took a median 38 days for a house to go under contract, down from 51 days at the same time a year ago, the paper reported, citing the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors. In Palm Beach County, the median was 87 days, compared with 101 a year ago, said the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches. In Miami, the days on market dropped in a year from 72 to 64, according to real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller.

South Florida inventory is tight because many homeowners are either underwater on their mortgages or holding on in the hope that home prices will continue to rise, according to the Sentinel. [Sun-Sentinel] –Emily Schmall