South Florida residential sales have been on the decline in the past few months, so it may be difficult to blame the storms.   Although transaction volume declined sharply in September, it appears that cracks in the market started in July.  One month does not make a trend, but three months may be an indicator of market direction.

Closed Sales of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach houses

There has been a significant decline in transaction volume since the month of June.  The monthly totals for single-family home sales in South Florida were as follows:

• June – 4,893
• July – 4,119
• August – 4,147
• September – 2,735 (storm related)

Closed Sales of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach condos

When we look at the monthly totals for closed condo transactions in South Florida, it looks like deal volume started to slow in June, just a month earlier than single-family home sales.  The condo transaction totals for the area were as follows:

• May – 4,450
• June – 4,155
• July – 3,553
• August – 3,610
• September – 2,738 (storm related)

Sale Prices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach houses

The average sale price of single-family homes have remained somewhat stable in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, but it appears that Palm Beach prices are sliding.  Here are the average sale prices for September:

• Miami-Dade – $477,150
• Broward – $433,148
• Palm Beach – $429,916

Sale Prices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach condos

For now it looks like condo prices are remaining stable in Broward and Miami-Dade, while they appear to be slipping for the past few months in Palm Beach.  Obviously the new supply that will continue to flood the market will add some pricing pressure, but for now the tri-county area hasn’t declined much.  The average selling price by County in September were:

• Miami-Dade – $379.024
• Broward – $200,294
• Palm Beach – $248,064

As we move into the fourth quarter of 2017 we will closely monitor real estate activity in South Florida.  If you want to blame storms for sales declines, September is the only month where closings may have been impacted.  Therefore, October should receive some of the deals that were scheduled to close during the month of September.  After that, it will be important to watch the volume of closed sales for the remainder of the year.  It usually takes a few months of slower transaction volume for prices to soften.  If that happens, we may begin the long-awaited market correction that is inevitable.