Friday, March 21, 2008

Analyzing Current Real Estate Conditions In The Miami-Dade Market

Miami is a unique US city that is probably one of most diverse in the nation.

The city has a healthy mix of international residents, and is also a booming economic, cultural and social center. The city has established itself as one of the two largest commercial ports in the U S, mainly thriving on high-volume import and export businesses. In addition, Miami has become the second most important banking center in the East Coast, second only to New York.

As it is often the case, along with seeing robust growth in the real estate market, comes a time when fortunes change, and a period of pessimism hovers, as a result of overly optimistic view of how many new housing units could the market absorb, because of the excessive number of either unsold or foreclosed residential properties, especially condos. The market has been for a rough ride lately, however, it's not that hard as some would like everyone to view it.

What Factors Would Help The Market Overcome The Slump

In view of the existing slowdown in home sales, mortgage rates and interest rates, if we check some of the major variables influencing the real estate market at these specific times, we may be able to see some very positive trends, such as: Interest rates on long- term mortgages have long stabilized at historical low levels, favoring the purchase of real estate; the increase in in-migration toward the state of Florida and the Miami area in particular has noted to be among the highest in the country and should expect to raise strongly into the next 20 years, and creating higher demand for residential market; and the unemployment rate, which is the single factor that can greatly influence a local real estate market

How Housing Markets Are Faring In Most Of The US

The US Commerce Department recently reported that new home sales figures dropped by 2.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 588,000 units, which represents the slowest pace since early 1995.

For January, the median price of a new home fell to $216,000, representing a slump of 4.3 percent from the December median sales price. That was the lowest median price since September 2004 and highlighted that the steep slide in housing continues to be underway. US Housing market analysts surmise that housing activity will continue to further fall this early, as a large segment of mortgage foreclosures in effect, will dump more unsold homes on an already full market.

For January of 2008, the current inventory of unsold homes has dipped, but since the pace of sales activity slowed down as well, housing market observers think that the number of months it would take to consume the current inventory rose to 9.9 months, which represents the longest period ever in more than 26 years. January's 2.8 percent drop in new home sales precluded even larger declines of 4 percent in December and 13.1 in November, and this showed weakness in most areas of the US, except the West, where the markets there saw sales increasing by 2.2 percent.

The oversupply of housing units is a tough concern to settle. However, the state and federal governments have been moving swiftly to contain the damage, and have been implementing measures to either cushion the effect on consumers and developers, or map out newer strategies to prevent future predicaments.

The Florida state legislature and the Governor himself are seriously discussing and finding ways to tackle the insurance and property taxes issues, and are finding viable solutions that would substantially reduce the property tax and insurance coverage woes that bedevil homeowners in Florida.

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