By Gay Cororaton, MIAMI REALTORS Chief Economist
During 2024 Q1, the dollar volume of homes sales in the JTHS Market* area rose to $1.2 billion, up 21.2% from one year ago. This growth rate surpassed the overall pace of 3.7% in the five counties of Miami-Dade (5.5%), Broward (0.9%), Palm Beach (4.2%), Martin (6.4%) and St. Lucie (1.4%).
The JTHS market accounted for 8% of Southeast Florida’s $14.03 billion sales in the first quarter of 2024.
Dollar sales volume rose as the median sales price for all properties rose 13.2% which offset the 1.4% decline in home sales. However, pending sales rose by 0.3% in the JTHS market area, which could lead to more closings in the next quarter. In comparison, pending sales declined in the five Southeast Florida counties.
The single-family market outperformed the condominium/townhomes market on several metrics. Closed sales of single-family properties rose 5.4% year-over-year while sales of condominium/townhomes fell 9.9%. The median single-family sales price rose 7.0% to $820,000 while the condominium/townhome median sales price rose 5.0% to $420,000. As of the end of March 2024, active inventory of condominiums/townhomes was up 75.6% year-over-year, with inventory equivalent to 7.5 months’ supply. In the single-family market, active inventory rose 26.6%, with total inventory equivalent to 4.7 months’ supply. Overall, the JTHS area had a balanced market as of the end of March 2024, with inventory equivalent to 6.1 months’ supply.
As the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.8% in March 2024, cash buyers accounted for a higher share of the market, at 61.8% of total sales in the first quarter of 2021 (56.6% in March 2023). Moreover, the JTHS market area had a higher share of cash sales than the other South Florida counties.
Notable Zip Code Trends
Zip code 33418 (Palm Beach Gardens), the largest submarket, saw the highest increase in dollar sales volume, at 82.8%. In 33455 (Hobe Sound), an affordable market area where 63% of sales were all-cash, dollar volume rose 18.9%. In 33458 (Jupiter), the second largest submarket, dollar sales volume rose 15.8%.
Zip code 33477 (Jupiter) had the highest year-over-year increase in closed sales (20.0%) and pending sales (21.1%). Pending sales also rose at a double-digit pace (10.0%) in 33478 (Jupiter).
Three zip codes saw double-digit gains in the median single-family sales price that pushed up the median sales prices to over $1 million: in 33458 (Jupiter), the median sales price rose 33.8% to $1.03 million; in 33469 (Jupiter), the median sales price rose 31.4% to $1.15 million; and in 33418 (Palm Beach Gardens), the median sales price rose 22.8% to $1.157 million.
The low level of inventories in 33458 (Jupiter) with just 3.5 months’ supply of single-family homes and in 33418 (Palm Beach Gardens) with a 4.7 months’ supply underpin a strong price outlook for these zip codes. The propensity for prices to increase in 33455 (Hobe Sound) is also strong as this zip code has the lowest months’ supply of single-family homes (3.4 months) and the lowest median single-family sales price ($519,900). In 33477 (Jupiter) and 33469 (Jupiter), market conditions are balanced with inventory equivalent to 6 to 7 months’ supply.
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