SoFla resi sales improved in Q4 with a few weak spots: Elliman

Sales fell 10.4% in Miami Beach and barrier islands

Part of the Miami skyline (Credit: iStock)
Part of the Miami skyline (Credit: iStock)

South Florida’s residential markets continued improving in the fourth quarter of 2018 with a few weak spots, including Miami Beach.

That Miami Beach market took a dip, but sales on the mainland were up, according to Douglas Elliman’s fourth quarter residential report. In Palm Beach and Wellington, condominium sales surged.

The South Florida market is “still in the process of improvement as opposed to something that’s fully improved, unlike most of the rest of the country,” said Jonathan Miller, who authored the reports.

Miami Beach and barrier islands

In Miami Beach and the barrier islands, residential sales fell 10.4 percent year over year to 678 in the fourth quarter of 2018. Condo sales dropped 15 percent to 606, while single-family home sales rose a 64 percent to 72 closings. That area also includes Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, North Bay Village, North Beach, Key Biscayne and Fisher Island.

The median sale price of a condo in those markets was $330,000, a nearly 12-percent decline from the previous year. For a single-family home, it was $1.6 million, up 10.7 percent. Both property types also sat on the market for much longer, up 93 percent to 139 days for condos, and up more than 150 percent to 208 days for a house.

Condo sales rose in Sunny Isles, Bay Harbor Islands, Key Biscayne and Fisher Island. They fell in Bal Harbour, Surfside, North Bay Village and Miami Beach.

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Miami coastal mainland

On the mainland, residential sales rose more than 10 percent to 3,518 closings. The median sales price increased about 6 percent to $320,000. Another sign of improvement is that the share of purchases with conventional financing was the highest it’s been in five years, Miller said.

Condo sales jumped 14.3 percent to 1,763, and the median sale price was about $250,000 – up 6.3 percent compared to the previous year. Single-family home sales rose 7.2 percent to 1,755. The median sale price of a single-family home increased 6.4 percent to $385,000.

Palm Beach

Condo sales surged in Palm Beach, but home sales plummeted. Condo closings rose 80.6 percent to 65 sales. The median sale price of a condo jumped nearly 22 percent to $615,000, while the median sale price of a single-family home dropped 30.5 percent to $4.7 million. Only 12 single-family homes sold in Palm Beach, marking a 43 percent decline from the previous year.

Delray Beach

In Delray, the condo market suffered slightly with a 0.7 drop in closings, down to 553, and a stagnant median sale price of $130,000. Single-family home sales rose 2.2 percent to 274 with a median sale price of $413,300 – up 10.8 percent.