At this point we are grasping at straws to see if the craziness in the South Florida real estate prices will start to settle down.  Usually if we see several  months of slowing sales, prices usually follow.  The difficulty with that theory this time is that inventory is so low, maybe sales are just slowing because there aren’t many houses left to buy.  It could be that simple.  During the month of October there were 8,506 closed sales.  Out of that number, there were 3,939 houses sold and 4,567 condos sold.  This next chart shows the average monthly sales going back to 2012, followed by the sales numbers.

Housing prices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach areas

Take a look at this surge in prices for single-family homes during the pandemic! The average sale price of a house reached a new high of $$661,827 in October.  Compare that to the average sale price of a condo at $312,004.  It’s obvious that houses are more popular for work at home and school at home activities.

Limited inventory of homes for sale

This surge in prices can certainly be attributed to lack of supply.  There just aren’t many houses on the market.  The number of single-family homes listed for sale reached a new low of only 11,350 houses on the market in October.  meanwhile, there were 27,112 condos available for sale in the tri-county area.  This chart speaks volumes, as after the last housing bubble burst there were over 30,000 houses and over 40,000 condos on the market before foreclosures were halted and everyone got a bailout.  The numbers in January of 2011 were 41,473 houses and 30,768 condos on the market.  What will be the catalyst for a housing price correction this time?  Will it be skyrocketing insurance costs?