You can’t talk South Florida Real Estate in a vacuum; the industry is too meshed up with the economy in general
Taking a bird’s eye view on where South Florida has been to where it is today, and what factors have contributed to it, helps frame the conversation more intelligently.
All and all South Florida Real Estate and local economy is pretty resilient. Tourism some would say is at the forefront of the recovery, slowly followed by Real Estate and Infrastructure (public works).
Progress is slow, and you could argue too negligible to make a positive mid or long term prognosis.
Tourism has been our bread and butter for some time now.
“According to Smith Travel Research, hotels in metropolitan Miami averaged $200.85 a night in Feb, up 9.2% from the same period a year earlier. By the way compared to New York City hotels avg $188.86 the same month. All Hotels in Broward and Palm Beach rose from a year earlier.” –daily business review
But why is Tourism such a play for us?
According to Mike Maxwell, director of the real estate development program at the Huizenga School of Business at Nova Southeastern, “we are still a deal”.
It’s true!
If you compare hotel rates in New York, San Francisco and Miami, We ARE a deal! –and at the end of the day you are still in sunny South Florida.
As far as South Florida Real Estate is concerned, according to the Miami Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a single-family home in May was $190,000. This is about a 6 percent increase from a year ago.
The available homes inventory however has shrunk to $11,403 from $16,943 in the same period. There are also still quite a few foreclosures occurring with lots of cash buyers making their moves.
The condo market is rebounding together with the luxury homes sector. Commercial properties in addition to apartment complexes are also going for premium pricing.
So can you find deals out there today?
I think so! –they are not as attractive as they were a year to a year and a half ago. But there are a lot of people still hurting with their bad real estate assets weighing them down. The challenge is the financing.
Banks are still shy, some are lending, but most are waiting for stronger signs of a recovery. According to the FDIC, in the 1st Q of this year bank loan balances shrank by $56 billion.
On the flipside of that coin, there’s a lot of South American money coming into South Florida. For this group South Florida Real Estate and South Florida in general still provides them with a stable infrastructure where to park their cash and grow their real estate assets and business portfolios.
My personal view on our current South Florida Real Estate status and what it means for the average person is:
I’ve always believed South Florida can take the heat! As a community we’ve been through a lot, if we pull together we’ll always do better than if we don’t.
Regarding Real Estate opportunities:
Keep searching… the deals are out there!
I’m presented with opportunities in Real Estate on a weekly basis. It’s all about networking with the right Realtors, Attorneys and Homeowners and keeping a win-win viewpoint throughout the process!
Take care 🙂