Single family home inventory

Our focus today is on the single family home segment in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area.  First, let’s see how the available inventory looks.  During the month of July there were 5,396 houses listed for sale in Broward County.  The beginning of last year is when inventory seems to have reached at least a near-term peak.  In February 2015, the existing inventory of houses reached a high of 6,731 and has declined 20% since that point.  If you look to the left side of the chart you will notice how inventory declined through 2012 from similar levels, but this is most likely attributed to the halt in foreclosures due to the robo-signing litigation.

Single family home transactions

Deal volume dropped 17% from June to July.  Here is a breakdown by transaction type:

• Traditional sales – 1,279 in July, down from 1,548 in June
• Foreclosure sales – 151 in July, down from 170 in June
• Short sales – 69 in July, down from 87 in June

Median sale prices by transaction type

All transactions types had a decline in price in the month of July.  Here is a summary:

• Traditional sales – prices dropped from $337,000 in June to $330,000 in July
• Foreclosure sales – prices dropped from $252,500 in June to $237,500 in July
• Short sales – prices dropped from $205,000 in June to $202,300 in July

Distressed sales compared to foreclosure sales

We have noticed a divergent pattern in the South Florida real estate market lately.  The news media has been touting the decline in distressed sales as good news, but they haven’t mentioned that the pace of new foreclosure filings has been on the rise.  This chart speaks volumes. During the month of July there were 414 new foreclosure filings in the single family home segment, while there were only 220 distressed sales.  We always tell people that one month does not make a trend, but the chart clearly shows the trend of new foreclosures has been on the rise since the beginning of last year.  This chart is certainly worth watching as we head into the fourth quarter of 2016.