As our economy begins its phased opening, one thing is clear about Miami-Dade’s residential real estate market — the time to list your home is now!
An internal analysis by Berkshire Hathaway EWM Realty of the residential real estate market in Miami-Dade County, based on data from the Southeast Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service (MLS), reveals that during the first eleven days of June, 2020, the number of new single-family homes and condos listed for sale across Miami-Dade County increased a whopping 45% over the same 11-day period in May, 2020.
While the number of properties which have been listed for sale in the MLS between January 1, 2020 and June 11, 2020 are down 18% compared with the same period in 2019, the increase for the first 11 days of June, 2020 is up 9.4% over the same 11 days in June, 2019.
The reason? Pent up demand. In the midst of the COVID-19 economic shut-down, several thousand sellers who had been planning on listing their home in the spring of 2020 delayed placing their property on the market.
Another clear metric of the demand for new listings – and the sales activity that it is creating – is what we call ‘pended sales.’ A ‘pended sale’ means that a seller has accepted an offer from a buyer, and the paperwork to close the deal is still in process.
The number of pended sales is one of the most important factors in the health of a market. During the first eleven days of June, pended sales were up 67% in Miami-Dade over the same period in May. There is so much activity that the volume of pended sales for the first eleven days of June 2020 is almost 22 percent higher than the same period in June 2019.
What we are seeing is that new listings are going on the market, and buyers are there to snatch them up. We are even seeing homes with multiple offers. These are all signs of a return to healthy activity levels. Of course the volume of sales varies widely and depends on whether you are selling a single family home or a condominium, and of course the price point of your particular residence.
Those in the higher price ranges, particularly for condominiums, are encouraged to price their residence appropriately. We believe that we have more pent-up demand today than we have ever seen, particularly for the over $1 million market, but the key is to ‘price it right’.
If you are waiting to list your home or condo, it would be prudent to quickly re-evaluate that decision, as the numbers tell a positive story about listing now. The number of Miami-Dade single-family homes and condos actively for sale in the MLS on June 11, 2020 totaled 19,777 properties, compared with 21,833 for sale one year earlier, a decrease of 2,056 homes and condos, or 9.4%.
We are expecting inventories to re-balance in the coming months, once the number of properties for sale returns to normal levels of supply. The enhanced advantages that sellers are experiencing today will level out as the market moves to a normal balance of supply and demand.