Propelled by low prices, attractive interest rates and federal incentives to lock in offers by the month's end, the number of new contracts on South Florida homes soared in April.
Compared with March, pending sales of single-family homes and condominiums increased last month in both Miami-Dade and Broward, mirroring the national upward trend in contracts signed, according to data released Tuesday by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches. Compared with last April, the number skyrocketed.
Pending home sales track signed contracts that haven't yet closed -- a figure that may have been unusually high for April because buyers had to sign contracts by April 30 to qualify for federal tax credits. To finalize the credit -- $8,000 for first-timers, $6,500 for repeat buyers -- they must close by June 30.
The number of pending home sales overall ticked up by 6.6 percent in Miami-Dade in April, with 10,392 compared with 9,751 in March. In Broward, pending home sales increased from 8,173 in March to 8,525 in April, up 4.3 percent.
Those increases represent huge leaps over last year's numbers. In Miami-Dade, pending sales increased 71 percent year over year; the jump was 64 percent in Broward, figures that point to a recovering market, real estate agents and analysts say.
Sales have increased for the past few months as home prices have fallen.
NEARING BOTTOM?
Independent housing analyst Jack McCabe said the market is likely nearing the bottom, but still must deal with foreclosures and short sales, which keep prices low.
``I think we're going to see a pretty decent year as far as sales numbers, but I don't see prices going up,'' he said.
``The state of paralysis, I think, is pretty much over,'' said Terri Bersach, chairman of the association, which released the data with the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service.
Nationally, pending home sales increased in March. The index of sales contracts by the National Association of Realtors rose 5.3 percent from February and 21 percent over last March.
DROP PREDICTED
The national association's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, predicted a drop in sales in the near future.
But South Florida agents say they aren't too concerned about the expired credit.
Jo-Ann Forster, a broker associate with Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, said the tax credit was attractive to buyers looking at less expensive properties.
``If you're going to take all of Miami-Dade into consideration, you're going to see a drop-off,'' Forster said. ``If you take our niche markets, I don't think it's going to have a cataclysmic reaction.''
Anthony Askowitz, a broker and owner of two Re/Max offices, said the timing is good because May and June are typically busy sales months.
``If Miami had a season, this is definitely the big season,'' he said.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/05/1613443/pending-home-sales-jump.html
By HANNAH SAMPSON
hsampson@MiamiHerald.com
The Criscitos has been selling South Florida luxury and commercial real estate for over a decade and has sold over $1 billion dollars of property. They work as a multi-lingual team speaking english, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. They carved out a niche as a leading boutique real estate company with two distinct divisions -residential and commercial- both personally overseeing by Marcela and Anthony Criscito.
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