Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market Update April 2024

So you're thinking of buying or selling a property in or around Fort Lauderdale Florida? Then you've found the right video. Today I’m going to go through the statistics and data that buyers and and current property owners need to have in order to know who the real estate market is good for right now, and what it’s really doing. The good and the bad, not just the fluff. Real Estate is local, if you’re trying to follow national real estate trends and applying those to the Fort Lauderdale market, you’re making a huge mistake.

Higher for longer is the theme of the Fed on rates, and constricted housing supply remains in place. Let’s take a look at how that is affecting the single family, condo, and townhome market here in Fort Lauderdale.

Let’s begin with the single family home data

Moving from left to right here. Let’s start with the Median sold price.  To recap I don’t put a ton of weight into this one, it’s too easy to push this number around.  That being said, we continue to see Median prices rise.  I’ve said this a number of times, the good stuff is selling!  People will pay for the renovated, well located, turn key places.  That’s what we see play out here.

Total number of properties sold, this is one of the big stats to watch.  If 1 property sells for $30 million it can skew the median housing price along with total volume stats.  What you can’t fake, are how many people are actually coming in, raising their hand, and buying a home. Over a 25% month over month jump here up to 173 sales.  On a tear since January’s 96 sales.  This is good for Sellers! 

List to sales price pretty flat here.  To review, this basically tells you how far Sellers had to come off of their original asking price to get their property to sell. If someone came on market at a price too high, or saw too few offers at or close to list price, the Seller was forced to take a reduction and sell for less than they anticipated.  This is a really good stat to watch in terms of keeping your finger on the pulse of the market.

Days on market is another big stat to watch. For Sellers this will tell you how many days you should expect your home to sell within, on average. For Buyers this will tell you if a home has been sitting on the market for a long period of time relative to other listings, price point aside. Please keep in mind that this reflects the number of days a home was listed, before it went to Pending sale. The time it was in pending does not count in this figure. Sellers don’t want to see this number rise too far above the averages. I think if you look at this chart and kind of eyeball it, 30 days would be about the average, so sales are taking significantly longer than they have historically, or over the last 5 years anyways.

Median per square foot pricing, just like overall median pricing, I don’t put a ton of weight into.  Waterfront sells on a higher PSF basis vs non waterfront, but it all gets lumped in here together so I think it looses some value. That being said, looks like we’re still marching north.

Total dollar volume is something I like to pay some attention to.  It gives you the total breath of the market. Now, again, a large sale can skew this.  Now keep in mind, seasonality should start to pick things up a bit here soon. So don’t be surprised if next month we see total dollar volume up again. As for now, take a look since January when we were at a figure just shy of $93 million in volume, up now to over $248 million. Just on an absolute tear here.

And here we are at my other most favorite statistic, along with the number of properties sold, Months of housing supply in Fort Lauderdale! As a recap 6 months of supply, nationally, is supposed to be reflective of a neutral market favoring neither Buyers nor Sellers.  Can we really apply that to the Fort Lauderdale single family home market? Look at this chart. In the past 5 years we haven’t seen 6 months of supply except for 2 months in 2020.  I would say that closer to 4 months of supply is average in Fort Lauderdale if you look at this chart.  I’ll tell you now from working with Buyers it certainly feels like there’s more inventory now than there has been, which is great for Buyers. But keep in mind, it does look like supply is tightening up as we head back down towards 5 months.

Let’s switch over to Townhomes and condo’s.

Condo’s, especially older condos close to the ocean, have some big headwinds in the form of milestone structural integrity reports, along with skyrocketing insurance costs.  What I’ve seen, anecdotally, is a sharp rise in Buyer interest in townhomes.  Why does this make sense? Largely because your HOA fees will cover exterior insurance costs in many cases.  Because you’re sharing the cost of insurance, vs in a single family home, and you tend to have budgets without things like valet, full time management, etc, the carry costs of townhomes right now looks really appealing. 

Median sold price at $552,500.  Still on the high side of the chart here.  Again, let’s not focus on that too much.

Number of properties sold up 11+% month over month.  We’re certainly not out of the woods here if you’re a Seller, but a positive development none the less. Considering in January the condo market was about left for dead.  Look we’re still at the bottom of this chart.  I have a couple of condo listings right now that historically would have sold quickly, and they’re just kind of lingering. My general feeling is Buyers have accepted that rates aren’t coming down, but they’re not in a rush nevertheless.  What have I been seeing a bit of that’s interesting, interest from investors.  Investors had largely disappeared from the condo market over the last few years.

List to price looks like we continue to fall here.  So a few things there. Buyers it looks like there’s some wiggle room on pricing, Sellers likely means you came to market too high. We’re at the bottom of this chart here.  The farther we head down, the better it is to be a Buyer.

Of course Sellers would like days on market to push way back down, but we’re a ways away from there as it looks like we’re climbing again.  So Buyers edge here clearly as I see it.  It means Buyers aren’t as pressured to make a decision as they once were. The lower the days on market the faster Buyers have to act. An average of 56 days on market is just a big number. We have to go back to 2021 to see this type of number.  

Price per square foot came off the peak and bounced back again, seems to resuming it’s march north but we will see.  Again, don’t put a ton of weight into this.

Total dollar volume up 22% month over month.  Since January we’re up 47%. It will be really interesting to see where this goes next month. 

So while there was a glimmer of good news for Sellers there in total dollar volume, I now give you the doom and gloom that is Months of supply.  So remember on single family homes where we saw 6 months of inventory 2 months in the last 5 years? Does this look a bit different? Months of supply in my opinion gives you the best pulse of the market. It allows you to take a quick look and see who this market is better for Buyers or Sellers.  Right now, Sellers in Fort Lauderdale have a massive headwind in months of supply. There are 89% more homes on the market right now than there were this time last year.  Let that sink in. 89% more supply. We’re up over 9 months of supply in condo’s and townhomes in Fort Lauderdale and just clearly favoring Buyers. Another way to say it, it’s a great time to be a Buyer of a condo or townhome in Fort Lauderdale.  One thing I will predict, this won’t last.  There’s an open window now for Buyers, but it will shut. Unless of course people just stop relocating to Florida.  Yeah I don’t see that one happening either.

Previous
Previous

Fort Lauderdale Condo and Townhouse Real Estate Market Report May 2024

Next
Next

March 2024 Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market Update