Miami April 2007 Home Sales

May 25, 2007

Homes in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach metro area sold at the slowest pace in a decade in April as prices leveled off across much of the three-county region. Palm Beach County again posted the weakest showing as prices fell below year-ago levels for the seventh consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 9,362 new and resale houses and condos sold in the metropolitan area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was down 7.2 percent from March and down 33 percent from April 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Last month's escrow closings for all homes combined were the lowest for an April since 1997 and marked the 19th consecutive month in which sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis.

The Miami region's weakness continues to be led by sales declines in two home type categories: resale condos and new homes, a category which includes newly built condos as well as detached houses. The number of new homes sold dropped 45.5 percent last month compared with April 2006, while resale condo sales fell 29 percent and resale houses 25 percent.

Price trends varied by submarket and home type. The metro area's overall median sale price for new and resale homes combined was $280,000, flat compared with March and up 2.3 percent from a year earlier. It was the lowest year-over-year gain for any month since January 2000, when the median fell 3.1 percent. New home medians in each of the three counties saw the biggest annual gains, increases that are likely more indicative of a shift toward fewer lower-cost condo sales this year than of appreciation.

County-by-county breakdown:

The all-home median price in Palm Beach County was $289,900 in April, down 0.6 percent from a year ago. The county's median has fallen on a year-over-year basis since October. The $350,800 new-home median lurched up 12.7 percent from a year earlier, likely as a result of fewer condos selling this year. The $195,500 resale condo median declined 1.8 percent and the $320,000 resale median increased 1.6 percent.

Broward County's $269,900 overall median was 3.8 percent higher than a year earlier, but that gain was mainly the result of a 9.3 percent annual increase in the county's new-home median. Broward's $320,000 resale house median rose 1.6 percent from April 2006, while its $185,000 condo median inched up 0.6 percent.

Miami-Dade County's $290,000 April all-home median rose 5.8 percent year-over-year. The county's $278,000 new-home median was 14.9 percent higher than in April 2006, while the $350,000 median for resale detached homes was up 1.4 percent. The $239,000 resale condo median was up 1.7 percent from April 2006.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL  MSA
	# sales			Median price
	Apr-06	Apr-07	%Chg	Apr-06	Apr-07	%Chg
Resale houses	5,253	3,931	-25.20%	$325,000	$335,000	3.10%
Resale condos	4,060	2,888	-28.90%	$207,000	$211,000	1.90%
New homes	4,669	2,543	-45.50%	$269,750	$286,000	6.00%
All homes	13,982	9,362	-33.00%	$273,700	$280,000	2.30%

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534

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