South Florida Resale Inventory Falls 1% To 94,000 Residences

As the South Florida winter tourism season enters its last month, buying activity in the residential real estate markets of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties is only intensifying.

South Florida's residential resale inventory of condominium units, townhouses, and single-family houses dropped by nearly 1 percent in the last week to the 94,526 properties on March 30 compared to 95,409 properties on March 23. At the beginning of the winter tourism season on Nov. 24, 2008, South Florida had 107,527 properties on the market, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.

Pending sales of residential real estate are also on the rise throughout the tri-county region. In the last week, South Florida pending sales increased by more than 3 percent to 12,985 on March 30 compared to 12,576 on March 23. At the beginning of the winter tourism season, pending sales in the region totaled 9,302, according to the report.

"South Florida's residential real estate market is in flux," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures®. "As the bad news about the U.S. economy and stock market continues to get worse, demand for South Florida properties just keeps strengthening."

Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is located, is realizing the greatest buying activity in percentage terms.

Pending sales in Broward are up 4.7 percent in the last week to 4,849 on March 30 compared to 4,633 on March 23.

By comparison, pending residential transactions are up 2.6 percent in Palm Beach County to 2,445 on March 30 compared to 2,384 on March 23. In Miami-Dade, pending sales are up 2.4 percent to 5,691 on March 30 compared to 5,559 on March 23, according to the report.

The number of available properties in Broward has slipped by 1.2 percent in the last week to 31,549 on March 30 compared to 31,921 on March 23. The current number of available resale properties in Broward is down 14.6 percent from Nov. 24 when the total inventory was 36,926 properties, according to the report.

Miami-Dade's available residential inventory dropped by 0.9 percent in the last week to 35,268 properties on March 30 compared to 35,581 on March 23. On Nov. 24, Miami-Dade had 40,994 properties for sale.

Palm Beach County is experiencing the slowest pace of inventory depletion.

Active listings in Palm Beach County stand at 27,709 properties, down 0.7 percent from 27,907 properties on March 23 and 29,607 properties on Nov. 24, according to the report.

Peter Zalewski is a principal with the consulting company Condo Vultures® LLC and a licensed real estate broker with Condo Vultures® Realty LLC. Peter can be reached at 305-865-5629 or by email at peter@condovultures.com. Be sure to check out Peter's blog at CondoDump.com. Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report for detailed condo reports. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database . Our new book Miami's Great Condo Crash: A Chronicle of the Boom and Bust is now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database.

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