It's been a crazy few years for Real Estate in South Florida. When the pandemic hit, I thought for sure prices would plummet. Boy was I wrong! Prices went crazy with multiple offers and bidding wars. Now here we are, heading into the holidays of 2022 with interest rates increasing and the market leveling out.
Don't get me wrong, South Florida prices are still higher than they've ever been and the average home buyer needs an income of $100k or more to qualify for a conventional loan on a single family home. But the crazy days of cars lined up down the street for open houses and 30 offers the first day of a home being listed appear to be waning.
Looking at a few popular South Florida cities, statistics from the local MLS show the following:
Fort Lauderdale
There are currently 536 single family homes for sale, with 107 closed sales in the past 30 days. This works out to an inventory of 5 months. This means it will take approximately 5 months to sell those 536 homes currently listed. 
Wow! Almost a normal market! A normal market is considered 6 months of inventory. Quite a change from what we've seen in the past couple years. In case you're wondering, the median sales price for a single family home in Fort Lauderdale in the past 30 days was $510k. When it comes to condos, there are quite a few on the market! 511 to be exact. 88 have sold in the past 30 days with a median price of $415k. Prices vary greatly depending on whether the condo is oceanfront, waterfront or inland. The highest condo sale in the past month was $5.7M for a 4 bedroom + den & office, 6 bath gorgeous 3000+ sq. ft. oceanfront unit. The lowest sale was $173k for a 1 bedroom, 1 bath 775 sq. ft. inland unit. Townhouses deserve a mention here also, as they are relatively new to Fort Lauderdale. Most are newer construction due to the fact that Fort Lauderdale has been built out for years and developers have to knock down old homes in order to build something new. Townhouses are becoming increasingly popular in South Florida, as they allow developers to build more homes on smaller pieces of land. Because they're newer, they're bringing top dollar, with the median townhouse selling for $800k.
Plantation
Plantation is located due west of Fort Lauderdale. It has a more suburban feel, yet it's still an easy drive to Fort Lauderdale and the beaches. There are currently 163 single family homes for sale, with 43 closed sales in the past 30 days. This works out to an inventory of just under 4 months. The median sales price for a single family home in Plantation was $630k after 
factoring out the highest & lowest sales. I make this adjustment because one very high sale can skew the median price drastically. For instance, the highest sale was in Hawks Landing for $2.35M with the next highest sale being $1.3M and most others coming in under $1M. So by removing the 2 highest & 2 lowest sales, we get a pretty accurate median price. In case you're wondering, before removing the highest & lowest sales, the median price was $725k. Looking at condos, there are currently 45 condos listed for sale with 24 having sold in the past 30 days. This gives us an inventory under 2 months. With a median price of $210k, condos are clearly more affordable than single family homes, thus becoming a popular choice for first time home buyers and retirees. Townhouses are also popular in Plantation and much more affordable than the newer Fort Lauderdale townhouses. The median sales price for Plantation townhouses in the past 30 days was $366k.
Weston
Weston is located due west from Fort Lauderdale, beyond Plantation & Davie. There are currently 144 single family homes for sale, with 32 sales in the past 30 days. This works out to 4.5 months of inventory. Quite a change for the hot Weston area. 
The median price for single family homes sold in the past 30 days is $850k. Weston is primarily a residential area with single family homes, so there aren't many condos in the area. Most of the lower priced condos are in the Bonaventure area, which was built in the late 70's - early 80's when the city of Weston was being built. These condos are selling at a median price of $295k, whereas newer condos in Weston Hills range from $600k - $800k. There's also a beautiful 55+ community in Weston, The Palms at Weston, with prices ranging in the mid $500's. The inventory level for Weston condos is only 1.5 months. The median sales price for townhouses in the past 30 days was $463k.
Davie
Davie currently has 170 single family homes for sale, with only 26 sales in the past 30 days. This works out to a shocking 6.5 months of inventory. The median adjusted price for single family homes is $601k. Without adjustments 
for highest & lowest home sales, the median sales price was $621k. Surprisingly, there are only 33 condos for sale in Davie, with 15 sales in the past 30 days. So there's only about 2 months of inventory for condos in Davie. If you're surprised the condo market is so much more active than single family homes in Davie, it's because most of these condo sales are near the colleges - Nova Southeastern University which is known for it's medical and business programs, FAU, FIU and Broward College. Many parents have found that buying a condo for their college student is much better than renting, with rent prices having gone through the roof. At least when the student graduates, the condo can be sold, rather than all that rent money going down the drain. The median price for townhouse sales in the past 30 days was $349k.
Coral Springs
Coral Springs has a surprising 201 active single family homes on the market, with 20 of these homes listed for over $1M. 
There were 60 sales in the past 30 days. This equates to an inventory of 3.35 months. The median sales price for single family homes in the past 30 days was $650k. For the condo market, there are currently 90 condos in Coral Springs listed for sale, with 34 sold in the past 30 days, for an inventory of 2.64 months. The median sales price for condos in the past 30 days was $213k. The median price for townhouse sales was $310k.
Sunrise
Sunrise, widely known for the Sawgrass Mills Mall, currently has 99 single family homes on the market with 32 sales in the past 30 days, equating to 3 months inventory. The median sales price for single family homes in Sunrise 
over the past 30 days was $465k. There are a lot of condos for sale in Sunrise, many being in the 55+ community of Sunrise Lakes. Currently there are 196 condos for sale, with about 120 of those being in Sunrise Lakes. 48 condos have sold in the past 30 days with a median price of $170k. 25 of these condos were in Sunrise Lakes with a median sales price of $130k. Sunrise Lakes has 4 phases, with phase 1 being the oldest and phase 4 being newest. Phase 4 tends to be popular, as these condos have washers & dryers in them. Most of the older condos can't support washers & dryers in the units. Phase 4 condos are in the $200k range. Only 6 townhouses in Sunrise sold in the past 30 days at a median price of $405k.
Tamarac
Tamarac currently has 69 single family homes for sale, with 20 sales in the past 30 days. This is an inventory of 3.45 months. 
The median price for single family homes in the past 30 days was $470k. There are quite a number of condos in Tamarac, with the popular 55+ community, Kings Point. Currently there are 122 condos listed for sale in Tamarac with 44 sales in the past 30 days, equating to an inventory of only 2.7 months. The median sales price in the past 30 days for condos in Tamarac was $200k. Only 6 townhouses sold in the past 30 days at a median price of $338k.
There are other cities in the "Greater Fort Lauderdale Area" I could address, but I think these cities paint a good picture of the current real estate market. I'll try to do these market updates on a regular basis, to keep you apprised of the local market here in South Florida. If I can answer any questions for you, please feel free to call or text me at 954-557-7036 or email debbie@SouthFLHomes.com and I hope your holidays are wonderful!