March 2024 Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market Update

Fort Lauderdale March 2024 Real Estate Market Update

If you’re following national real estate market trends to get an idea of what the Fort Lauderdale real estate market is doing, you’re looking a the wrong data.

Is it a good time to buy a home in Fort Lauderdale? Is it a good time to sell a home in Fort Lauderdale? What does the local real estate data actually tell us?

The real estate market is separate and distinct for single family homes, condo’s and townhomes.

My name is Casey Prindle, I’m a Realtor that spent the last 14 years working in and around Fort Lauderdale.  This month I’m going to skip the commentary and get right into the data, so let’s go ahead and share my screen:

Let’s start with single family home sales in Fort Lauderdale

The data loads about a month after the month closes, so this data will be from the period of January 1 to January 31 of 2024.

Median Sales price $710,000.  Some big dollar sales helped push this number up. I don’t put a ton of stock in median pricing, so let’s get onto something I feel is much more meaningful.

Total number of sales. In my opinion the number of closings actually happening is what’s going to give you the fastest, and best, snapshot of the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market. Seasonality kicked in here!  If you don’t know what I mean, go and watch my video about the best time of year to sell a home. Historically January is one of our most active months. So we jumped up significantly from last month to 95 sales, to 128 sales. For some perspective there were 112 sales that took place in January of 2023.

List to sales price headed down.  Seems like we have a decent amount of negotiation, or price reductions, happening before the sale takes place.  The average seller received 95% of their asking price.  That’s a big higher than this time last year at 94%.

Median days on market took a pretty sharp turn down. Down from last months reading of 57 days to 48 days. Level from the 48 days in January of 2023. This is a good stat to follow.  It’s going to tell both Buyers and Sellers how tight the market is getting.  It should also be a note to Buyers that if you see something on the market for 45 days and think it’s been listed way too long and you’re going to get a steal of a deal, you’re not paying attention.  Also, Sellers, don’t freak out if you’ve been on market for 45 days without sale….. save that for the 90 day mark.

Median price per square foot is range bound.  I’m not going to talk about it much, no real point in doing so. If you’ve been hearing me you know this number is where it is because Buyers want the good stuff, not the junk, right now anyways.

Total dollar volume came roaring back! Up 52% from last month.  Just a monster move statistically.  Up year over year from $129 million, to $149 milliion. This is really something to watch, still on the lower side of the chart here when you zoom out, but headed the right direction. Albeit with a ways to go.

And now Sellers let’s get our doom and gloom hats on.  Inventory, up 23% year over year. Down slightly month over month.  Now I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. You’re going to feel like there is more or less inventory depending on what price bracket you’re shopping in. In the lower price brackets there’s still very little actual inventory. So you need to understand where the market is loosest and tightest before you begin your search and set your expectations.

Townhomes and condos.

Before we begin I want to note, the single family and condo/townhome markets look VERY different from one another right now.  If you’re searching for single family, you need to really pay attention to that data set, looking for condo’s or townhomes in Fort lauderdale, use this one.  Don’t mix and match or anything crazy like that.  These markets are very distinct from one another.

Median pricing on condos and townhomes looks to be holding it’s own.  I don’t want to spend too much time on this one.  Let’s look at more of the data before I throw out too many opinions.

Number of properties sold.  An example of why I say condo/ townhome and single family homes are distinct.  Single family sales were up sharply, condo and townhome sales are still down around where they were the last few months. 115 sales, up slightly from last months 106 sales. Down year over year from 120 sales in January of 2023. Let’s see what February brings.

List to sales down around 95%. So there was some negotiation, or price reductions, that have been taking place.  Anecdotally, let’s take a one day snap shot of today on the MLS in Fort Lauderdale. There were 30 new residential listings that hit the market, and 33 price reductions. So about as many listings came to market today, as saw a price reduction. Buyers are measuring downside risk and are making offers on the lower side of value, at least that’s what I’m seeing. Sellers are adjusting price kind of late in the game.

Days on market headed down to 49 days last month to 46.  We were at 40 days in January of 2023. Sellers would like to see this number come down of course.

Price per square foot we’re going to glaze over.  We look to be hugging around that $400 psf figure. We can keep an eye on this and see if it resolves one way or another.

Total dollar volume, this is a big one to look at in terms of overall market strength and health. Still way down here at the bottom of the chart.  Looks like it’s trying to make a move up, but man we have a long climb to go back to the 2021 and 2022 volumes. We are up year over year from $74 million to $87 million. So a little wind at our backs there.

Supply Supply supply.  Not a positive development for Sellers. Statistically we’re firmly in a  Buyers market in condos and townhomes. Buyers certainly have A LOT more inventory to view vs last year, or even last month. Month over month we’re up a tick.  Year over year we’re looking at a 93% increase in inventory.   Unlike in single family homes, this isn’t as price bracket sensitive.  There are things sitting on the lower, and higher end of pricing. This is really a wake up call for Sellers.

Want to talk some more about real estate? Call, text, or email me! We can even grab a coffee or an alcoholic beverage together! Until next month.