Miami home sales fell 3.3% in January from a year earlier, as sales of properties less than $200,000 slowed, DataQuick said Friday.
The real estate analytics firm reported 7,443 home sales in the metro area, which includes the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward. That number is down 17.1% from December and 3.3% from last year.
Even as sales declined, the median sales price rose from a year earlier for the first time in 52 months, suggesting some signs of price stabilization in the market.
Still, the median price in January was 55.2% below the peak of $290,000 in June 2007. The median price for the month hit $130,000, down 3.7% from December but up from 6.1% a year earlier.
Meanwhile, sales below $100,000 declined 11.6% from a year earlier, compared to a 4.2% annual gain for homes priced between $200,000 and $600,000 and a 24.1% increase for properties sold for more than $800,000.
The report suggests that while sales dropped on fewer affordable home sales, the luxury market picked up traffic, keeping overall sales activity relatively robust.
Foreign investment in the region continues to increase. Buyers with foreign mailing addresses represented 5.6% of total Miami-area sales in January. The vast majority of the properties they acquired — or approximately 79% — were condos.
Most of the foreign buyers came from Canada.
