Existing home sales NATIONWIDE (which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops) rose 10.5% year-over-year during the month of August.  Median existing-home prices across all housing types increased by 11.4% to $310,600, marking 102 straight months of year-over-year gains.

According to Lawrence Yun who is the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, “Home sales continue to amaze, and there are plenty of buyers in the pipeline ready to enter the market”.  He continues “Further gains in sales are likely for the remainder of the year, with mortgage rates hovering around 3% and with continued job recovery.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in the real estate market, both for the good and for the bad.  Over the past few months we have witnessed strong demand in certain sectors like luxury residential homes (outside of dense urban cities) as well as significant weakness in the retail and hospitality sectors. 

Where things progress from here is challenging to forecast due to uncertainties with the economy and the political climate as well as the impact from the pandemic.  However, certain markets (South Florida being one of them) are starting to see signs of a recovery in most sectors.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the commercial and residential real estate markets in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have experienced significant volatility.  In the past 30 to 60 days as businesses reopened and residents went back to work, the number of real estate transactions experienced considerable improvement from their recent lows in April and May but still are far behind prior year levels. 

With the resurgence in the number of positive cases which is causing a delay in reopening, not only the real estate market but also the economy is on unstable footing.