Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market Update (Condos & Townhomes) August 2024

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market Update - August 2024 (Condos & Townhomes)

Welcome to the August 2024 Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market report for condo and townhome sales. 

The median price of condos and towhhomes in Fort Lauderdale is now $470,000. This is flat year over year!

Data presented here will be for condo and townhome buyers interested in moving to Fort Lauderdale, those interested in selling a condo or townhome in Fort Lauderdale, those curious about Fort Lauderdale Real Estate, or anyone looking for a Fort Lauderdale Realtor.

My name is Casey Prindle your Fort Lauderdale Realtor. If you’re looking at buying or selling real estate in Fort Lauderdale go ahead and give me a call at (786)443-7203! Whether you’re looking to buy or sell property next week or next year, give me a call today.  It’s easier for me to provide more value the earlier I’m involved in a transaction.  This can also include those of you who already own a property and are just curious about the value, happy to help you out with that. As an added bonus I’m fun to talk to!

All data will come from the multiple listing service (MLS). Data typically runs 30 days behind the date of this real estate market report. At the end of the video I’ll give a little extra commentary because I know you guys love that, so stick around.

Median Sold Price of condo and townhomes in Fort Lauderdale:

$470,000, down almost 5% month over month, or 20% over the last 60 days. So I’ve been kind of warning you guys, the condo market is getting a bit rocky. However, despite what the media is reporting, not all condo’s are bad and not all condo’s are selling at a huge discount to market.  That just isn’t true.  What is true is condo’s that are well positioned, and by that I mean through their Milestone reports, assessments issued, and budgets shored up, there’s some nice value out there. I think the rift between the good and bad product will grow here over the next several months.

Total number of homes sold in Fort Lauderdale:

123 condos and townhomes in Fort Lauderdale sold last month, a decline of over 20% month over month, and down from 141 sales year over year. Look not a whole lot else means more than how many homes are actually selling if you want to talk about market health. I’m hoping not to break that 100 sales line to the downside, but I’m not going to be surprised if we hit it. We’ve been down around this area on a the chart a few times before and pulled out, I’m hoping we do that again.  Not going to be shocked if next months data is worse than the 123 sales though honestly.

Average list to sales price

The average list to sales price is how much a property sold for relative to it’s asking price. When we are higher on this chart sellers are not having to negotiate much and buyers are paying up.  The lower we go on this chart the more buyers are pushing sellers around. Look we need to be honest here, Sellers aren’t seeing many offers on their listings in most cases.  Buyers are choosing the best of what’s available and making offers below listing price, and from the looks of this 94.53% number, sellers are blinking first. My gut says we continue to head down here, but, Buyers if you see something you like be willing to pay a couple of percentage points closer to ask to get the deal done, you don’t want to walk away from a good property over a relatively smaller amount of money.

Again if you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in a week or a year from now, please give me a call at (786)443-7203. Don’t be shy, come on let’s talk some real estate!

Median Days on Market

The median days on market are still rising.  Lower days on market is better for Sellers, higher days on market is better for Buyers. Lower days means fast decisions have to be made and often bidding wars, longer days means Buyers can really think about what price they want to offer without having the property bought out from under them. 63 days on market currently, up from 41 days this time last year.  These are just the days a property is on the market before it goes to pending sale, not the total time from listing to close, so add on 30-45 days do that 63 for a true and accurate measure.

Median Price per square foot

If you’ve been paying attention I’ve been saying the good stuff is selling, higher price per square foot is the good stuff.  It’s not a good sign when the good stuff takes a turn to the south in terms of pricing. $364 per square foot is the median per square foot price now, down over 13% from last month, down from $406 year over year.  Look there are storm clouds everywhere right now, this is just another one of them.

Total dollar volume of Fort Lauderdale Home Sales:

Just over $88 million in total dollar volume of condo and townhome sales in Fort Lauderdale last month.  That’s just brutal.  We’re down over 20% month over month, but as you’re saving grace we’re just about flat year over year. I said this last month “Let’s keep an eye on that $100 million dollar mark. If we break that I think we’re really headed to the downside. Below $100 million puts us back in what was a decent market in 2020, but certainly not like what we’ve been seeing the last handful of years.” And here we are!

Months of inventory

Do you want the doom and gloom first, or the maybe, possibly, could it be, silver lining? I feel like you guys like doom so lets start with that! Months of inventory, and supply levels, are what I feel are the most important metric that I track.  Let’s look at the vertical assent of months of inventory!  This is absolutely brutal to see if you’re a seller.  I mean brutal. Inventory represents competition. The less inventory, the less competition.  But what does this slide say? Says you better price well and have a good product if you want to have a chance at selling! Year over year up 88%! Months of supply at the top of the chart, not good for sellers.  Buyers this means you have a lot of choice. 

Ok so what’s the silver lining? Could we actually be headed down on the inventory chart? If you’re a seller that’s really what you want to see.  I mean we have a long way to go, and we’re firmly in a buyers market, but this could be the start of a swing back to at least neutral. Maybe right? What do you guys think?

Final thoughts

Here is my final thought.  Mortgage rates are down a point from the highs.  Economic data keeps looking bleak.  The 10 year and the bond market are not waiting for the Fed, they’re already cutting yields. I’ve said this before, if we get into a lower interest rate environment the pendulum is going to swing and Sellers will be in a good spot. Florida has positive net migration, we have people moving here hand over fist with not enough homes for them to buy. If you’re a buyer and you’re waiting for rates to drop, think it through. A lot of Buyers are waiting for rates to drop.  Do you think you can negotiate a better purchase price today with high inventory and slow sales, of in an environment where theres lower inventory and higher sales? I get that high rates mean a higher mortgage payment, but you need to balance that out with a market that returns to increased competition and bid up prices. You think homes are expensive now? I tend to believe they’re only going to get more expensive if rates drop!

The easiest way to find me is just to call me.  My cell number is 786-443-7203.  Don’t be shy. Don’t just lurk on my videos, give me a call, let’s chat. I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you that watches these videos.  I started this out as a blog a couple years before I came onto YouTube in Fort Lauderdale.  Since then I’ve closed in excess of $100 million worth of real estate deals that have come from clients watching me on YouTube just like you. So I thank you for watching, but please, reach out to me, don’t be shy, let’s talk!