FAR: Florida home sales up again - South Florida Business Journal:

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Even better news: The statewide median saleds price in May for existing homes and condoxs rose over theprevious month, accordingv to the . "Ever since March we have seen a prettgy dramatic increase in the number of saidBill Richardson, district saled manager for in Boca "We have also seen a slight uptick in median pricing," he added. In Sout h Florida, Miami led the pack in volume with a 76 percenf increase in the sale ofexisting single-family homes. That translateds to 597 homes soldin May, compared to 339 in the previous same-year In Miami, the median pricw for an existing single-family home fell 36 percenf to $194,700 in May from $329,9090 a year ago.
The good news is that the media n pricerose $17,700 from when it was $177,000. Miami also led in condpo sales, which were up 36 percent to 571 units from 420 ayear ago. The medianb price, however, was cut in half to $140,40o0 from $280,700 a year ago. it was up $6,900 from April, when the media price was $133,500. Existing home salee in Fort Lauderdale rose 47 percent to 780in May, compareds to 530 homes sold during the same time a year ago. But the mediab price fell 36 percenftto $190,000 from $296,800. And, it was down slightly from April's median price of $191,300. Condo sales in Fort Lauderdales were up 25 percent to 799 units last up from 639 ayear ago.
The mediahn price fell 42 percenrtto $80,400 from $138,900, but was up slightlgy from April's median price of $79,900. Existing home saleds in West Palm Beach inched up 5 percent to 737 from 702 ayear ago. The medianm price of a single-family home fell 30 percent to $232,900 from $330,900, and was down slightluy from April's median price of Existing condo sales in West Palm Beachu rose just 3 percent to 676 from 655 unitss ayear ago. The median price of an existin g condo fell 33 percentto $107,500 from but was up $9,300 from April's median prices of $98,200.
Richardson said the housinhg inventory in Palm Beach County has fallen to around 11 or 12 month from a high in December 2007 of about 55 The question Richardson hears from most buyersa is when will wehit bottom? "I think we are at the bottom. Do I thinkl the bottom will rise dramatically? I thin k we will rumble along the bottom for a he said. The one "fly in the ointment" is the backlov in the distressedproperty market, note d Richardson. Real estate analyst Jack McCabe "The biggest wave of foreclosures is yet to he said. Add to that the fact that statewidd unemployment has risento 10.2 percent, and McCabe foreseess even more foreclosure filings down the road.
existing home sales rose 16 percent in May with a totaof 13,921 homes sold, up from 12,044 homes in the same periodr a year ago. May existingv home sales were up 6.2 percent over April’s statewidwe activity, according to FAR. Statewide, pricee for existing single-family homes rose in May to $144,40 from $138,500 in April. Condol sales were up 21 percent in May comparecd to the same time ayear ago, and 3.8 percen compared to April. Statewide prices for existinf condoswere $113,400 in May, up from $106,6090 in April.
"The improving saleas of existing single-family homes and condos is a trend we have been seeing for several months inFloridq – what is new in this month'se data release is that we are seeing evidencew of prices beginning to firm," Sean Snaith, director for the 's Institute for Economic Competitiveness, said in a news The median sales price for existingg homes last month was $144,400, down 29 percentt from a year ago when it was $203,800. However, the statewidd median price for existing homes in May was higher than the media price reported in each of the previousfour months.
Year-over-yeare condo sales were up 21 percenrto 4,839 units in May, compared to 3,999 units in May 2008. The statewide existing condo median sales price last monthwas $113,400, down 38 percenrt from a year ago when it was $181,700.