Two recent reports point to South Florida as an unaffordable region for first-time homebuyers. However, other recent data suggests the Miami metro is a top buyer’s market where individuals are actively buying in the lower tier price points.
In a recent study by Nerdwallet no South Florida city was among the top 50 most affordable markets for first-time buyers. The best ranking and most affordable South Florida market was the Edgewater submarket of Miami, which is north of downtown. The market is said to have a concentration of relatively affordable but undesirable single-family homes.
In a separate report from SmartAsset no city in South Florida ranked among the top 25 most affordable beach towns in the nation.
Buyers may find themselves with negotiating power
While considered by some to be an unaffordable market, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro was recently ranked by Zillow as the sixth best buyer’s market nationally. In short the metro represents one market where buyers have the best success negotiating on price.
Zillow found Miami metro homes sell for 15.5 percent less than their original list price, with an average market time of 105 days.
The firm’s finding contradict those of the Miami Association of Realtors, as the association recently reported that the average percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 95.5 percent in January 2016. Additionally, the average percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 93.3 percent last month.
The association also found that within Miami-Dade County the volume of single-family home sales priced between $250,000 and $400,000 rose by more than 18 percent last month. The 285 sales that occurred within this price range represented nearly 35 percent of all existing single-family home sales in January.
Of the all existing condos that sold last month, roughly 25 percent (374 sales) were priced between $150,000 and $300,000.
Overall the median sales price for an existing single-family home in Miami-Dade County stood at $270,000 in January. The median priced condo reached $205,000.
