Fort Lauderdale is considered by one source to be the second-best single-family housing market in the nation, while Seattle ranked first.
According to a winter report from Ten-X, formerly Auction.com, the Florida city has one of the best combinations of rising home prices, favorable affordability and strong housing demand. Couple these factors with strong economic and demographic conditions, and there’s tons of future demand for single-family homes.
Ten-X cites recent year-over-year home price growth of 8.9 percent in Fort Lauderdale. Despite this price appreciation, values remain 22 percent below their pre-bust peak. At the same time home sales activity is up by 7.9 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Cited as a destination city, Fort Lauderdale has benefited from low oil prices this winter, which boosted the leisure and hospital business and in turn aided employment and home prices.
“The local economy continues to strengthen and reach new heights, fueled by job growth in its outsized financial services sector pushing payrolls up nearly 4 percent year-over-year,” Ten-X stated in the report.
As the largest city in Broward County, Fort Lauderdale is a primary driver of the region’s single-family sector.
During January, single-family home sales activity in Broward County was up by 6.2 percent year-over-year, according to figures from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors. Entering February the median sales price in the county stood at $285,000, a 7.5 percent rise from the same time last year.
While inventory in the county has declined on a year-over-year basis, the 6,086 single-family homes on the market equate to 4.3 months of supply.
Palm Beach County market not far behind
Palm Beach County, which is just to the north of Fort Lauderdale and Broward, was ranked as the sixth best single-family housing market by Ten-X.
According to data from Florida Realtors, single-family homes priced between $300,000 and $600,000 accounted for 34.2 percent of all closed sales in 2015.
In January, the county saw more than 5,000 new for-sale listings hit the market, including 2,835 single-family homes. This suggests that seller confidence is on the rise in Palm Beach.
Ten-X ranked Miami as the 18th top single-family housing market nationally this winter.
