What will happen if it all falls down?   I guess the housing “recovery” has been fun, but it looks like transaction volume continues to decline.  Today we will look at the Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County Florida residential real estate market.  The average monthly transaction volume has been declining since peaking in 2015.

As for the monthly average transaction volume, here is a chart showing the numbers since 2012 in Broward County, Florida:

The annual transaction volume numbers show the same downward trend over the past few years:

Median sale prices for single-family homes have held up through the month of March.  Take a look of this next chart which shows the following median sale prices for March 2018

• Tradtional sales – $355,000, up from $340,000 in February
• Foreclosure sales – $302,617 up from $225,000 in February
• Short sales – $280,000 up from $242,500 in February

Note the sharp climb in median sale prices of short sales and foreclosures.  This shows that the higher-end distressed properties are finally making their way to market after spending nearly a decade in the court system.  Keep in mind that the property owners that have the money for an attorney have been able to delay the property sales for nearly a decade.  As we have discussed at length, the foreclosure problem in South Florida will continue to linger for years to come.

How about condo properties in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area?  There was a big jump in short sale prices.  Once again, this further illustrates that some higher-end distressed condo properties are finally being sold.

• Tradtional sales – $165,000, up from $160,000 in February
• Foreclosure sales – $110,000 falls from $144,500 in February
• Short sales – $162,500 up from $140,000 in February

Mortgage rate falls slightly this week

As for the mortgage rate, there was a slight decline from last week.  Transaction volume has been fighting an uphill battle since rates have climbed.  The path to normalization may be a bump one for housing.  If mortgage rates continue their path higher, you will certainly see the sale prices of houses and condos declining.

Good Reads & Good Tunes

Instead of a “Good Read”, today we will leave you with a classic tune from Jimmy Buffet