South Florida home sales up as prices stabilize

BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
icordle@MiamiHerald.com
Yadir Enriquez has been trying to buy a house for a year, but each time he made an offer, other buyers beat him to the deal.
This time, his contract was accepted: He'll pay $220,000 for a four-bedroom Kendall home that sold three years ago for $350,000, then fell into foreclosure. Still, he figures he's spending $50,000 more than he would have a year ago.
Enriquez and his family are joining the tide of South Florida home buyers rushing to close a deal, as home sales soar and prices begin to stabilize.
Existing home sales jumped 45 percent in Miami-Dade and 24 percent in Broward in December, compared to the same month of 2008, according to housing data released Monday by Florida Realtors, the industry's association. Median prices fell just 5 percent in Miami-Dade and 2 percent in Broward in the year-to-year comparison.
``We're definitely seeing more interest and more activity,'' said Frank Kowalski, president of Metro Dade Realty in Miami. ``The home-buyer credit has done a lot to stimulate that.''
Realtors say more buyers are perusing property, and some believe prices have stopped their freefall. In some pockets in The Roads section of Miami, Coral Gables, Plantation, Coral Springs and Weston, Realtors say they are even starting to inch up. Enriquez's purchase means he, his wife, toddler and baby will double their current living space. ``I'm happy, because compared to the condo that I have, it is much better,'' said Enriquez, 32, a CVS store manager.
It's more proof that when the price is right, consumers buy.
``For 16 months now, we have seen that we have had existing homes sales increase compared to the same month the previous year,'' said Marla Martin, spokeswoman for Florida Realtors. ``That's a good thing. It means people are buying and finding prices attractive.''
Compared to November, single-family home sales in December rose 37 percent in Miami-Dade and 10 percent in Broward.
Still, median home prices continued to fall, dropping 10 percent in Miami-Dade and 17 percent in Broward compared to November. The figures include only those homes sold by real estate agents.
Condominium sales skyrocketed in December, compared to the same month of 2008 -- up 68 percent in Miami-Dade to 766 and 59 percent in Broward to 949. At the same time, median prices fell: down 16 percent in Miami-Dade and down 17 percent in Broward.
The pace of condo sales in December compared to November showed more modest gains: up 26 percent in Miami-Dade and up 5 percent in Broward, while median prices fell just 1 percent in Miami-Dade and 28 percent in Broward.
Nationwide, the picture is different. Home sales fell in December, after a surge from September through November, as first-time buyers rushed to complete sales before the original November deadline for the home-buyer tax credit. However, prices rose from December 2008 and annual sales improved in 2009, according to figures released Monday by the National Association of Realtors.
NAR's latest industry outlook predicts the housing recovery will gain momentum in the second half of 2010.
``It will be at least early spring before we see notable gains in sales activity as home buyers respond to the recently extended and expanded tax credit,'' said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
Qualified buyers who have signed a contract to buy a primary residence by April 30 have until June 30 to close the purchase to be eligible for the federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers.
Market observers hope that will help South Florida's real estate market, which has suffered from weak sales and receding prices for about three years. Short sales and foreclosures have pushed down prices as owners, banks and other sellers have scrambled to unload property.
During the last quarter of 2009, foreclosures and short sales represented 60 percent of all sales in Miami-Dade and 50 percent in Broward, said David Dabby, president of the Dabby Group in Coral Gables.
``In a normal market, it is less than 10 percent; that's an unprecedented problem. The highest it has ever been before for residential homes, in the last 50 years, is 15 percent,'' Dabby said. ``That is the crux of the whole problem: there is such an unprecedented supply of foreclosures that have to be disposed of before the market can return to normal.''
Still, Realtors are hopeful the market is regaining a modicum of health.
``Buyers still are trying to low-ball offers, but the sellers are less agreeable to that in today's market, because they see that the prices in their neighborhoods are starting to stabilize, and we're putting the deals together at higher prices,'' said Jan Herard, broker associate for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Broward County. ``In neighborhoods with good schools, the prices are going up.''