Posted On: May 13, 2010
South Florida: Home Sales Up But So Are Underwater Mortgages
Home sales in South Florida were up over 48 percent, year-over-year, in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Zillow Real Home Value Index. However, the percentage of homeowners whose mortgages were underwater rose slightly, from 41.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 44.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010.From the South Florida Business Journal article:
Broward County home sellers took the biggest hit, with 54.3 percent selling at a loss. Miami-Dade home sellers took a loss 53.9 percent of the time. And 43 percent of Palm Beach County home sellers took a loss in the first quarter.
Nationwide, 23.3 percent of single-family homes had mortgages underwater, up from 21.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Home values in Miami-Dade County fell to $160,500, down 19.9 percent, year-over-year. In Broward County, home values slid 17.3 percent to $135,900. And in Palm Beach County, home values fell 5.6 percent, year-over-year, to $158,900.
Nationwide, home values fell 3.8 percent, year-over-year, to $183,700.
But, home sales were up in the tri-county area. In Miami-Dade, sales rose 66.8 percent, year-over-year. They were up 55.7 percent in Broward and up 16.8 percent in Palm Beach.
"It's a very positive sign that several large markets have hit what appears to be a tentative bottom in home values," Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries said in a news release. "While this is no guarantee that home values there will not fall again, it is more likely than not that they will remain above their lowest point last year.”
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Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
