Despite South Florida’s residential market cooling off this past year, Broward County has mostly held steady.
But July threw a wrench in that track record, according to a new report, with sales volume down significantly for both condos and single-family homes.
Broward saw 1,499 single-family homes sell during July, marking a 10.6 percent drop in closed deals compared to July 2015, according to a monthly report from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors association.
In that same time period, condo and townhome sales fell 12 percent from 1,563 units sold to 1,375.
Much like Miami-Dade, some of the blame for that decline lies in the lack of trading in distressed properties.
The number of single-family foreclosures and short sales in July reached 220, down by nearly 40 percent year-over-year, according to the association. Condos and townhomes saw a similar trend, with the association reporting only 179 distressed properties sold last month, down 48 percent year-over-year.
Fewer distressed homes and condos on the market also means higher prices. Home values in Broward continued to grow at a steady clip during July: the median sale price for a condo rose 4.4 percent to $143,000, and single-family homes climbed 2.6 percent to $320,000.
Unlike Miami-Dade, Broward’s market inventory is falling. During July, there were 5,396 single-family homes on the market, marking a 11.5 percent decrease in supply. Condos and townhomes saw a much more nominal 1 percent decrease to 8,265 active listings.
“As demand increases for homes, the ones that go on the market priced competitively are selling more quickly than previous years…” Howard B. Elfman, the association’s president, wrote in the report.