Miami property enjoys third best year in history

Miami's property market recorded its third best year in history in 2015, with existing home sales almost hitting 30,000.

Miami-Dade finished last year with 29,886 total existing residential sales, including single-family and condo markets - the third-highest total for annual residential transactions in Miami history. Only 2013 (30,041 sales) and 2014 (29,930 sales) did better.

New single-family homes, meanwhile, enjoyed an ever better 12 months, setting an all-time record in 2015, according the Miami Association of Realtors.

Miami closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 13,936 in 2015, up 3.1 per cent compared to the 2014 figure. It marked the third consecutive record sales year for Miami single-family homes, which posted 13,521 sales in 2014 and 12,899 in 2013.

"Miami real estate had a banner year in 2015," says Coral Springs Realtor Mark Sadek, the 2016 MIAMI Chairman of the Board. "Miami’s strong local jobs market, population increase, historically-low mortgage interest rates and South Florida’s continued growth as a world-class global region all played key roles in the strong sales. We see many of these factors carrying over to 2016."

A sure sign of the market's strength is that real estate is selling close to its list price, with the average percent of original list price received for single-family homes in 2015 hitting 95.2 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from a year earlier. The median number of days on the market for Miami single-family homes, meanwhile, fell 4.4 per cent to 43 days in 2015 from 45 days in 2014.

Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 274,769 in 2015, up 12.4 per cent compared to the 2014 figure, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in 2015 was $196,000, up 10.1 per cent from the previous year.

Historically-low mortgages rates played a role in the increased sales in Miami, Florida and the nation. The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.85 percent for 2015, up from the previous year’s average of 4.17 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

In 2015, cash deals represented 51.8 percent of Miami’s total closed sales, which is more than double the national average - a sign of Miami's ongoing appeal to overseas buyers, who tend to purchase in cash.

Demand helped to push up median sales prices of existing single-family homes up 8.2 per cent from $245,000 in 2014 to $265,000 in 2015, while the median price for existing condos climbed 5.3 per cent, from $190,000 in 2014 to $200,000 in 2015.