South Florida Housing Market Update [September 2022]

Hey, it's Andy with the Mandel Team at Remax and I'm here to bring you your September 2022 housing market update. I cannot believe it's already September. As always, for the purposes of these videos, we're gonna be giving you the leading indicators, showing you where the real estate market is headed, not where it's been. So we're going over what's happening right now in the market.

A lot of times when you hear these stats from the media, they're giving you stats that happened 30, 60, sometimes even 90 days ago. We're telling you what's going on right now, so you can predict what's going to happen in the next 30, 60 days in the real estate market. Now, when we do these stats, we're talking about single family homes only, and we're doing Parkland, Boca, and Coral Springs. Those are the areas where our team does the predominant amount of our business, so let's get into it.

The first stat we like to look at is the number of new listings hitting the market. Now on average, that's down about 14% compared to August of 2021. That's right, new listings down last month, compared to this time last year. At the same time, we're seeing pending sales down even more. So the number of homes going under contract is actually down 30%, and we've been seeing that trend for the last couple months. Way fewer homes going under contract now than this time last year, there's just fewer buyers out there. So because there are fewer buyers, homes are taking longer to sell.

The next stat we like to look at is the days on market, which is up 75%. That's 19 days this year, compared to just 11 days last year. So homes are taking almost twice as long. The good homes are still selling pretty quickly, but last year, if you blinked, you would miss a home. Now you're having a little more time to digest and breathe. The next stat we like to look at is really a backwards looking stat, but I think it's important, it's the close sales price to list price. And on average, that's 98.6% compared to 100% last year. So buyers are getting a little bit more wiggle room in their price, there's a little bit more negotiating going on in these deals. We're seeing sellers a little more open to doing repairs and credits from inspections and things like that. Because if there are fewer offers, if you don't have 27 offers, the sellers lose a little bit of leverage. So that's what we're seeing.

The next stat we like to look at is what I think is the most important stat, and that's the months supply of inventory. So that means if no more homes were to sell, how long would it take at the current pace of sales for all the homes to go under contract? Now anything less than six months is a seller's market, anything more than six months is a buyer's market. And this stat right now, it varies dramatically between the cities. Boca has the highest inventory at 3.04 months. But on average, between the three, it's 2.58 months of inventory. Now that is significantly up from what we were seeing last year, where everything was about one month of inventory. So that's more than double what we were seeing last year. Homes are taking longer to sell, so they're sitting on the market and thus, it feels like there's a lot more inventory for sale because it's just not flying off the shelves.

So what does this mean if you're a buyer? This is a great time to buy. If you've been frustrated with the market over the last year or two, and you didn't wanna compete and waive your appraisal and do all those crazy things that you would've had to do two years ago to get your offer accepted, now you don't have to. It's much easier to find a good house and sellers are a little bit more negotiable because they don't have 20 offers in five minutes.

So what does this mean if you are a seller? Now is the time to capitalize on this market. Interest rates are still below their peak from this year, but the fed is expected to raise rates again at their next meeting at the end of September. So while competition for homes is way down compared to last year, if you price your home correctly, it is still selling fast and for very good prices. Prices have not come down, but you just have to be in line with the comps in the neighborhood.

Overpriced homes are sitting on the market and having large price reductions. Don't make the mistake that people are making and thinking that this is the same market as it was last year. It's definitely a different market and you have to have your thumb on the pulse of what's going on.

If you have any questions about the South Florida real estate market, if you're looking to buy or sell in South Florida, give us a call, shoot us a text, or send us an email. We got your back when moving in South Florida.