South Florida Housing Market Update [February 2022]

Just how crazy is this housing market at the beginning of 2022?

Hey, I'm Andy with the Mandel Team at RE/MAX. And in this video, we're gonna go over our February 2022 Housing Market Update, where we give you the leading indicators showing you what's going on in the real estate market right now so you can make an informed decision on what to do for your family this year. When the media gives these stats, typically, they're giving you closed sales price, which is really indicative of what happened two, sometimes even three months ago. We're showing you what's going on right now so you know what's going to happen in the real estate market in the very near future, so you can make an informed decision.

When we do these videos, we're talking about Boca, Parkland, and Coral Springs only. Those are the areas where our team does the predominant amount of our business, but the numbers are pretty reflective of what's going on all over here in South Florida. When we give you these numbers, we're talking about single family homes only, no country clubs, no 55 and overs, so we're not talking about townhouses or condos either. So, let's get into it.

The first stat we like to look at is the number of new listings that hit the market in January compared to January of 2021. That would be what we would call the supply. That, on average, between the three cities is down 23% compared to January of 2021. So supply is much lower and if you've been looking for homes, I'm sure you're seeing it, there's very little for sale right now.

The second stat we like to look at is the number of homes that went pending and came off the market. So they haven't officially closed, but the sellers accepted an offer. That number is down 20%. So supply is down a little bit more than demand is down. And we really think that demand is only down because there's just not a lot of homes for sale. You can only sell a certain number of homes if there's a certain number of homes for sale, but supply is down more than demand.

The third stat we like to look at is the days on market or how long it takes for a home to sell. As you can imagine, with a lot fewer supply and demand higher than supply, the days on market is coming down and homes are selling very fast. In January of 2022, compared to 2021, that is down 35%. So, homes are selling much faster now than they were last year.

The fourth stat we like to look at is the number of months supply of inventory. In a balanced market, there would be about six months of inventory. In a seller's market, it's anything less than six months. A buyer's market is anything more than six months. Before the pandemic, we were sitting at roughly three to three and a half months of supply. So, we were in a seller's market before the pandemic started. Right now, on average, between Boca, Parkland, and Coral Springs, we're at .66 months of inventory. So, less than three weeks of homes on the market at the current pace of sales. That is a crazy, crazy seller's market. With demand still higher than supply, supply coming down, and only a three-week supply of homes, there's only one way for prices to go and that's up.So we are predicting in this year, in 2022, we're thinking we're gonna see roughly a 15% increase in prices. Again, on top of the roughly 24% increase that we saw in 2021, unless something major changes, which we just don't see.

People are still moving to Florida, there's still people who live here who need to upsize, and they need to buy houses. Millennials are starting families and they need houses. There is such robust demand here in south Florida and supply just can't keep up. There's nowhere to build because we got the ocean to the east. We got the Everglades to the west. There's only so much land that's here. So, unless you're knocking down a house and building another one, there's really not a ton of new construction. And even in that case, you're not really adding new construction. It's one-for-one trade off. So, we are really supply-locked here with a ton of demand and there's really only one way for prices to continue going, unless something major changes and everyone just stops wanting to buy houses and everyone puts their home on the market.

So we are predicting a big increase in prices this year. What does this mean for you if you're a buyer? Well, if you're a buyer, it's a competitive market. You gotta be working with the right professional who can guide you on how to write a very strong offer. You gotta be working with a really good local mortgage lender to make sure you're fully approved upfront, so you can try to write an offer with as few contingencies as possible. Ideally, a cash offer. You can write a cash offer even if you're getting financing. If you're not really sure what that means, reach out to us. We'd love to show you how we're able to do that. That is how we're helping our clients win in this market. And in our opinion, that's probably the only way to win in this market as a buyer because if you are not doing that, there are other buyers that are, and you're gonna end up losing out most likely to those offers.

If you're a seller, what does this mean? Well, we've been saying it for a year now, but there's really never been a better time to sell your home. With such few homes on the market, it's the same as it's been all last year, it's almost worse now with how few homes are here, you can command a very, very high price, probably a higher price than you've ever imagined. We're seeing multiple offers, 10 plus offers on every single property. If it's priced correctly in a good neighborhood, those homes are selling relatively quickly, but the good news is for you as a seller is you control the timing of the sale.

So, if you need a leaseback, if you need to stay in your home for a couple months, if you need a longer closing to be able to find your next property, we're able to get that for you. So it's not as stressful as it may sound, there are options for sellers to be able to sell your home, collect money now, and then find your next property in the next two, three, four months. We have those options. We're doing it on almost every deal, so we can walk you through that process. If you have any questions about the real estate market here in South Florida, in any of the cities down here, or what this might mean for your home's value, make sure you give us a call, shoot us a text, or send us an email. We got your back when moving in South Florida.