For the second consecutive month, home prices soared to a record in Miami-Dade County, despite more than a year of double-digit monthly sales decreases.
Miami-Dade’s median sales price for single-family homes reached $620,000 in May, up from $575,000 a year ago and $600,000 in April, according to the housing market update just released by the Miami Association of Realtors.
There was quite a contrast last month in neighboring Broward County, where the midpoint sales price for single-family houses was $585,000, down slightly from $586,000 in May 2022.
The skyrocketing home prices in the Miami area represent a long trend that accelerated during the pandemic. It can be blamed mainly on low housing inventory and continued strong buyer demand, real estate experts said. This scenario has left the county with an imbalanced housing market, favoring sellers and making it difficult for middle-class buyers to afford homes.
A balanced market consists of six to nine months of homes on the market. However, Miami-Dade’s housing sector remains out of balance with only a 3.3-month supply of houses and 5.1 months of condo inventory. Home availability was even tighter in Broward.
Although higher interest rates on mortgages have caused housing prices to fall overall in most of Florida and across the United States, Miami-Dade keeps bucking that trend. In short, people continue to relocate to the county from New York, Chicago and San Francisco, among other cities. Many of these newcomers earn high-paying salaries in finance, law and technology fields. They’ve consistently outbid locals for homes in Miami, often paid cash and have contributed to the runaway prices that make the Miami urban area one of the least affordable housing markets in the nation.
“Miami-Dade remains an attractive place. I’m still seeing reports of businesses moving to Miami-Dade. These businesses have high-salary positions and those employees can afford to pay for higher priced homes,” said Mark Thibodeau, assistant professor of real estate at Florida International University. “The rapid increase in sales and rents has led a lot of people to seek nearby Broward, and alternatives where housing is cheaper.”
South Florida’s May Housing Activity
Miami-Dade County’s single-family home prices rose to a historic high in May.