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Market snapshot: Single-family homes in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area
Yesterday we updated the condo market for the Fort Lauderdale area and today we will run through a few quick charts for the single-family home market. First up, let’s look at the median prices by transaction type through March.
Here is a quick summary of the chart above:
- The median price for traditional sales in March rose to $288,500 from $282,500 in February
- The median price for foreclosure sales in March rose to $168,300 from $158,500 in February
- The median price for short sales in March rose to $213,000 from $170,000 in February
As for the available inventory for sale, the monthly increases have slowed and inventory reached 5,634, up slightly from 5,565 in February. The amount of houses listed for sale has grown by 38% from the recent low of 4,089 last April.
As for the level of houses in some stage of foreclosure, we counted 45,431 as of April 14, 2014. Keep in mid that number is just for single-family homes in foreclosure and excludes the 14,438 condo/townhouse properties we counted on the same date. Here is a chart detailing foreclosure counts for each city in Broward County, Florida. Simply click on the chart to expand it.
The pace of new foreclosure filings remains elevated, with 1,543 new filings in March, up from 1,378 in February. Any monthly increase in this number certainly is a slap in the face to all of the “housing recovery” pundits. FYI- we had a sneak peek at the April numbers and we can say that the trend will not be reversing anytime soon.
Obviously the massive shadow inventory of houses in foreclosure scattered throughout Broward County is a problem, but in order to have a true recovery they will need to be sold and remain in the hands of people that will pay the mortgages on them. Take a look at this next chart of new foreclosure filings compared to the distressed sales (short sales and REO). In March there were 1,543 new foreclosure filings, but only 273 distressed sales. Yes, over five times as many foreclosure filings in the single-family home segment as distressed sales!
Finally, we will take a look at mortgage rates and the 10-year bond rate. Most people think that bonds are boring, but they are a great indicator of health for the overall economy. Although having the 10-year hover under 2.70 is favorable for mortgage rates, it basically tells us that the economy is not improving and near-term improvement is not in the cards. Yes, when you start to see the 10-year yield climb higher, it is actually good news!