Miami area home sales remained at a 3 year high in December as sales of existing condos, whose prices drop from 2006 high keep momentum. The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined didn't budge from November and declined from a year earlier by the lowest amount - 22.5% - since late 2008, a real estate information service reported.
In December, 8,259 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 19.1% from November and up 41.3% from 5,846 in December 2008, according to MDA DataQuick. The San Diego firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
In the month of December sales increase from November for the season, though the 19.1 gain was below the average November-to-December increase of 29.6% since 1997.
December marked the 10 consecutive month in which the region's overall sales rose on a year-over-year basis. Existing (not new) single-family detached house and condo sales have risen year-over-year for 13 consecutive months, while new-home sales in December fell below the year-ago level for the 42nd time in the last 43 months.
The strong condo sales, And the December sales of all homes priced $50,000 to $150,000 shot up 98.5% from December 2008. The $50,000 - $150,000 sales represented 47.5% of total home sales in December, up from 33.9% in December 2008 and 15.2% in December 2007.
Sales also picked up in December at the opposite end of the price spectrum: The number of homes sold for $1 million or more rose to 243 in December, up 51% from 161 in November and up 28.6% from 189 in December 2008. The figures are based on an analysis of public property records, where there was a purchase price or purchase loan amount of $1 million or more. During all of 2009, sales of $1 million-plus homes totaled 2,061, down 32.3% from a 2008 total of 3,044. The peak month for $1 million-plus home sales was in June 2005, when 583 sold, and the peak year was 2005, when 5,452 homes sold for $1 million or more.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in December was $155,000, the same as in November but down 22.5% from $200,000 in December 2008. It was the smallest year-over-year decline for the overall median sale price since the median fell 22.2%, to $210,000, in November 2008.
December's median was 46.6% below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007. The Miami area's median price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 27 consecutive months.
The median price paid for resale condos in December held steady at $105,000 - the same as in November but down 23.7% from a year ago and down 54.8% from the peak $219,000 resale condo median in July 2006. The resale condo median hit a cycle low of $99,000 in September 2009.
The median paid for resale single-family detached houses rose slightly in December to $188,000, up 1.7% from 184,800 in November but down 14.5% from a year ago and down 44.1% from a June 2007 peak of $340,000.
Another price gauge analysts watch, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, held steady in December at $109, the same as in November but down 11.4% from $123 in December 2008. It was the lowest year-over-year decline for any month since November 2007. The December 2009 median paid per square foot stood 48.3% below the region's $211 peak in summer 2006. The measure has fallen year-over-year for 39 straight months.
The only form of fiancing available for first time home buyers is government-insured FHA loans - accounted for 42.5% of all home purchase loans in December, down from 48.5% in November but up from 35% a year ago and 5.4% two years ago.
The use of adjustable-rate mortgages ("ARMs") to buy homes was steady in December at 5.7% of all purchase loans, the same as in November but up from a decade low of 4.4% in May 2009. However, December's purchase ARM level was down from 6.9% a year earlier. Miami's monthly average for ARM use over the past decade is 49.7% of purchase loans. In December, the median ARM purchase loan amount was $280,000.
The rest of the transactions were either cash or flippers taking advantage of the market
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