South Florida Inventory Falls 1.8% To 92,000 Homes

The number of single-family houses, condominium units, and townhouses on the market in South Florida decreased by 1.8 percent on a week-over-week basis ending April 6, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties have a combined 92,792 resale residential properties on the market compared to 94,526 a week earlier ending March 30. A fortnight ago on March 23, there were 95,409 residential properties on the market, according to the report.

As the number of available properties has consistently fallen every week, the number of pending sales is strengthening.

There were 13,298 pending sales in South Florida in the process of closing on April 6, up 2.4 percent from the 12,985 potential deals on March 30. On March 23, the number of South Florida pending sales totaled 12,576 properties, according to the report.

"The appetite of all-cash buyers willing to purchase deeply discounted properties is not weakening," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures®. "If anything, the appetite of buyers is growing stronger."

Every Monday since the Nov. 24, 2008, Condo Vultures® has tapped into the Florida Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service to obtain a glimpse of the South Florida real estate market.

The basis of the original report is 107,527 active available residential resales and 9,302 pending sales on the Multiple Listing Service.

In the five months since the report has been produced on a weekly basis, the number of active residential resales has dropped by 13.7 percent, or 14,735 properties, in South Florida. Pending sales have increased by 43 percent, or 3,996 properties.

Single-family houses are experiencing the biggest drop in inventory, falling 17.8 percent since November to 38,323 properties from 46,599 in November. Pending sales on single-family houses during that same period have increased by 41.3 percent to 6,879 on April 6 compared to 4,868 houses in November, according to the report.

Available condo and townhouse inventory has decreased at a slower pace of 10.6 percent to 54,469 units on April 6 compared to 60,928 units in November. Pending sales of South Florida condos and townhouses have increased by 44.8 percent to 6,419 possible transactions on April 6 compared to 4,434 contracts on Nov. 24, according to the report.

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at 800-750-0517 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 is now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database^TM.

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