South Florida’s Real Estate Market Proves Resilient Amid Rising Interest Rates
Despite the economic upheavals of the past year, homeowners across South Florida have seen a steady increase in their home values, according to recent data from RedFin, a national real estate brokerage. The increase in home values has been upward of at least 13%, depending on the area, despite rising interest rates cooling the market significantly.
Alex Platt, with the Platt Group at Compass in Boca Raton, attributes the increase in demand for Florida homes to factors such as tax shelter and better weather conditions. Many listings for sale have seen significant interest from buyers flying in for a couple of days to view and purchase a home.
In the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area, home values have increased by about 16% to over $353 billion in December when compared to the prior year. In the West Palm Beach metropolitan area, home values increased by 13% to over $423 billion, and in the Miami metropolitan area, home values rose by 19.7% to $468.5 billion in December, representing the largest annual percentage increase among all the metros analyzed by RedFin.
RedFin notes that the Florida market is likely to remain resilient as long as it provides an attractive and affordable alternative to places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Moreover, Miami’s home values have held steady, with December’s home values being almost the same as when they peaked in June 2022 to $472 billion.
However, the overall value of homes in the United States declined by about 4.9% from June to December 2022, representing the largest decrease of that time period since 2008. Despite this, the total value of homes in the United States reached about $45.3 trillion dollars in December 2022, a 6.5% increase compared to the same time period previously.
Redfin Economics Research Lead, Chen Zhao, notes that “The housing market has shed some of its value, but most homeowners will still reap big rewards from the pandemic housing boom. The total value of U.S. homes remains roughly $13 trillion higher than it was in February 2020, the month before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.”
Overall, despite the market taking a turn, South Florida homeowners have seen their home values rise, largely due to demand from people relocating to Florida from other states for tax shelter and weather conditions. As long as Florida remains an attractive and affordable alternative to other metropolitan areas, it is likely that the Florida housing market will remain resilient in the coming years.