Home Sale Prices Rose In Miami And Palm Beach Counties—But Dropped In This Florida Region

The South Florida housing market had a February full of ups and downs, with home sales prices rising in some counties but falling in others, and closings plunging across the board but attracting more cash than a year ago.

In Miami-Dade County, home to the bustling Miami metro, the median sales price of a single-family home rose 1% from February 2024 to $655,000. At the same time, the median sales price of condos rose 8% to $455,000.

Florida’s most populous county didn’t fare nearly as well when it came to sales in February, according to the latest Miami Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service data compiled by the Miami Association of Realtors.

Total home sales in the county fell 16% year-over-year, to 1,440. This number included 703 single-family homes sold (-8%) and 737 condo closings (-22%)

“The love affair with Florida has cooled down a bit,” says Kara Amir, a licensed real estate agent in Florida and California with Caldwell Banker. “It’s not that people don’t want to live there, but it’s definitely become a lot more expensive to do so. Buyers have been pulling away from Florida because of the higher costs associated with living there, even though the state has no income tax.”

The good news for Miami and its suburbs was that the dollar volume for single-family homes jumped 24%, to $951 million.

Home sales, however, lagged during the same period, with dollar volume falling 17%, to $592 million.

Overall, the dollar volume across the district reached $1.5 billion in February.

Palm Beach home prices are climbing, but sales are falling

Palm Beach County, which includes the exclusive enclave of Palm Beach, home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and the famous “Billionaires’ Row” with mega-million-dollar oceanfront mansions, saw the median home sales price rise 5%, reaching $647,000 in February.

Apartments in the area also experienced a positive change, with the median sales price increasing by 1%, to $317,000.

Total home sales fell 4% year-over-year, with 1,694 closings last month. Of those, 1,009 involved single-family properties, down 2% from the same period last year, and 685 were condo closings, down 7%.

Similar to Miami-Dade, the dollar volume generated from all sales in Palm Beach rose to $1.6 billion. Single-family home sales accounted for $1.2 billion of the total, up 21% year-over-year, while condo closings brought in $394 million, up 6%.

Broward County sees lower prices, fewer sales

Broward County, home to popular spring break destination Fort Lauderdale, had a tough February across all categories.

The median sale price of a typical single-family home in the county fell 2% to $610,000. At the same time, a typical apartment in Broward sold for a median price of $275,000, down 5% from the previous year.

Total home sales across the county fell 12% year-over-year, with 1,591 closings completed in February. These included 802 single-family home sales (-4%) and 789 condo sales (-20%).

And while Florida’s other two counties compensated for fewer sales with increasing dollar volumes, Broward was not so lucky.

The county’s dollar value for single-family properties fell 7% to $671 million, while the dollar volume for apartments fell 18% to $299 million.

“The Florida market has shifted to more of a buyer’s market because of more inventory and choices,” says Amir. “Due to the prices, insurance and interest rates, it’s less affordable than it was four years ago.”

According to the agent, high insurance costs played a significant factor in people deciding to sell their homes, especially apartments whose monthly prices have skyrocketed, along with assessments that make home ownership unaffordable.

“Buyers are wary of taking on these types of properties, so sellers will have to significantly adjust their asking prices in an inventory-rich market,” adds Amir.

List prices dropped in all three districts

Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties had one thing in common last month: Median home prices in all three sectors fell year-over-year, continuing a trend that stretches through early 2024.

The median list price should not be confused with the sales price; the former represents the median value of all listed house prices, while the latter is the median value of all actual sales prices of houses.

According to Realtor.com® data, Broward County saw listing prices fall 4.7% in February, Miami-Dade by 6.1% and Palm Beach by 6.6%.

“Inventory is rising in all three counties, with the number of homes on the market year-over-year exceeding the national average,” says Joel Brenner, senior economist for Realtor.com. “More homes at lower prices are coming up for sale, but the higher end of the market is performing better with sales, which is why we’re seeing sales prices and overall dollar volume rise even as sales counts decline.”

Brenner expects that going forward, sales performance in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties will be more similar to that of Broward County, given the abundance of inventory and declining list prices in all three counties.