Contracts Surge 3.5% In South Florida

South Florida residential pending resales spiked 3.5 percent in the last week to 15,191 existing contracts in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.

Pending sales in Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Beach, and Pompano Beach are located, surged 4.3 percent to 5,820 deals on a week-over-week basis ending May 18, according to the report produced using Florida Association of Realtors data.

Pending sales in Palm Beach County, where West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton are located, increased by 3.7 percent in the same period to 2,691 contracts. Pending sales in Miami-Dade County, where Miami Beach, Coral Gables, and Sunny Isles Beach are located, increased 2.7 percent to 6,680 contracts, according to Condo Vultures®.

"Buyers and sellers are entering into contracts in South Florida at a stepped up pace," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate services company Condo Vultures®. "As properties go under contract, the total available residential resale inventory has consistently decreased. In the last six months, inventory has fallen by more than 20 percent."

South Florida currently has 85,705 condo units, townhouses, and single-family houses available for resale in the tri-county area. The week of Thanksgiving, there were 107,527 residential properties on the market for resale, meaning that available inventory has fallen by 21,822 properties, according to the report.

Broward County has experienced the deepest drop in inventory in the last six months, falling 24.1 percent to 28,039 resale properties. Miami-Dade County has experienced a 21.1 percent drop in inventory to 32,348 properties. Palm Beach County's inventory has dropped by 14.5 percent to 25,318 resale properties.

Condominium units and townhouses represent about 60 percent of the total inventory while single-family houses account for the remaining 40 percent. Back in November, condo units and townhouses represented 57 percent of the inventory, and single-family houses account for 43 percent of the South Florida total, according to the report.

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at                 80...         or by email at peter@condovultures.com Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report^TM for detailed condo reports. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database^TM. Our new books, the Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami^TM and Miami's Great Condo Crash: A Chronicle of the Boom and Bust^TM are now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database^TM.

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