Miami properties, Miami real estate, Miami Homes, Miami Condos

Market

Florida has seen some of the nation’s most dramatic gains in home prices during recent years. The median price of an existing home has soared 33 percent during the past year, is up 105 percent over the past five years and has risen a whopping 180.7 percent over the past decade. While there is a fine line between boom and bubble, we still believe that most of the rise in Florida’s housing values can be explained by basic economic and demographic forces. Quite simply, prices are rising rapidly throughout most parts of Florida because the demand for single-family homes is vastly outpacing supply. Moreover, builders have been uncharacteristically slow in responding to the strength in home sales, which has kept inventories near record lows. The National Association of Realtors shows sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and co-ops running at record 583,500-unit annual rate during the second quarter of 2005. Separate data from the Florida Association of Realtors produce a similar result, with sales of existing single-family homes totaling a record 245,300 units over the past year. The total sales figure for Florida is larger than the same data for Texas and nearly as large as California, even though both states are significantly larger. Five Fundamental Factors Driving Florida’s Housing Market:

1- Mortgage rates dropped to near generational lows back in 2003 and have remained near these levels for the past two years.

2- Florida has also enjoyed exceptionally strong job growth throughout recent years. The Sunshine State led the nation in payroll employment growth in both 2003 and 2004.

3- Population growth has soared in recent years. The Sunshine State has added 1.35 million residents over the past four years.

4- More than 40 percent of Florida’s population base is in their peak home buying years, age 45 and over, compared to just 35 percent nationwide. Moreover, well over half Florida’s projected population gain over the next 25 years, which will total 8.1 million persons, will be age 45 and over, which means the state’s homeownership rate will continue to trend higher.

5- strong demand from overseas buyers, particularly from Europe and Latin America. The National Association of Realtors estimates that international buyers accounted for 15 percent of Florida’s total home sales during 2004. According to the NAR data, nearly 58 percent of these buyers come from Europe and 21 % from South America.