The New York Times reported today on the lack of inventory for homes nationally. In South Florida, the inventory has been shrinking for the past two years and shows no sign of slowing, but what has all the developers excited is how many buyers remain and continue to come onto the market. This indicates a total market recovery. In 2012 nationwide, sale prices rose by 7.3% according to the Case Shiller index. The lack of inventory is leading to bidding wars and incredible proce jumps of nearly 23% in some places. In Miami the condominium supply is down to 2400 from 48000 during the mortgage crisis, which is under a year, and developers are scrambling to erect more housing. There are over 100 new developments in Miami currently and it seems like more are being announced every day.
Nationally, builders are building like crazy but faced with administrative delays due to lack of workers and permits, and concurrently, homeowners are not looking to sell because of all the favorable administration for refinancing. Homeowners that were once looking at selling because they were in danger of defaulting on their loans, are now finding themselves above water, so to speak. This has created a paradigm whereby buyers are flooding the market because of the economy recovering and sellers are becoming more scarce for that very same reason. Once a home is placed on the market, there are multiple offers, bidding wars, and any number of mechanisms that have driven up the prices of homes. Locally, we are seeing incredible condominium sales with records being broken daily. Miami has one of the healthiest rebounds in the country. Now is THE time to sell with so many buyers on the market, and we recommend selling while the inventory is still at such a limited supply. Contact us today for more details.