Miami, Fort Lauderdale home prices rise in 4Q
By Kerri Panchuk
• February 9, 2012 • 4:49pm

Home prices in South Florida jumped in the fourth quarter as international buyers and investors nabbed affordable inventory.

In Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is the county seat, existing single-family home and condo sales increased 6% to 6,572 sales in 4Q 2011 from 6,225 in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

In Miami-Dade County, sales of existing, single-family homes and condos increased in 4Q 2011 to 5,839 sales from 4,722 in the comparable year-ago period.

The median sales price for single-family homes in Broward County in the fourth quarter hit $188,900, which is 5% higher than the fourth quarter of 2010. The median price of condos increased 11% to $77,300 in the same county.

In Miami-Dade County, the median sales price for a single-family home hit $176,200 in the fourth quarter, a 1% drop from 4Q 2010. The median sales price for condos also grew 19%, hitting $124,100.

Investors are picking up many of the properties, reducing the total housing inventory in Broward County by 33% from a year ago and 1.2% from the third quarter.

In Miami-Dade County, total housing inventory declined more than 40% from a year earlier and 6% from the third quarter. The county has a housing inventory level of six months.

kerripanchuk@housingwire.com

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