Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors released a statement regarding the recent numbers of previously owned home sales for the month of December today, “Record low mortgage interest rates clearly are helping many home buyers, but tight inventory amd restrictive mortgage underwriting standards are limiting sales.” This comes as no surprise given the record low inventory in Miami and we are seeing this increasingly as a sellers market. In December, sales fell 1% however they remained 12.8% above December numbers in 2011. 4.65 million homes were estimated by NAR to be sold in 2012, which is an increase from 9.2% in 2011 and is the highest level since 2007.
Nationally, the housing inventory dropped 8.5%, reaching 1.82 million homes, which is estimated to be a 4.2 month supply. Economists consider a 6-7 month supply to be a healthy market and this low inventory is lowest since 2001. This is not a sad story however since the median price of homes has been driven up by 11.5% since last year. In Miami Beach, we are witnessing a drastic shortage of previously owned homes for sale. There are 83 planned developments for this year in condominiums and hopefully there will be more released on the market. If you are looking to sell your home, contact us today!
