January 2022 South Florida Real Estate News Letter and Market Report

Hi! Happy New Year!

Real Estate for 2021 in South Florida was anything but normal. Due to the limited amount of supply and increased housing demand from out of state buyers, most properties lasted a brief time span on the market. This is actually a more prevalent time when you need to work with an experienced Realtor. Pricing increased at a minimum of 14% in Broward County's median sale priced homes ( $485,000). Bidding wars became standard with over the price offers. Facetime buying set off the new way to purchase a home. Florida is one of the few states without a state income tax, and has beautiful sunny weather. The housing supply has not been replenished leaving us in December with little inventory to offer as there is currently only a one months supply.

We now have the omicron variant in Covid. Due to increased vaccinations, masks, Covid kits, hand sanitizer, paper booties and Lysol's return to the store shelves, Sellers are not as overcome about having Buyers in their homes. We should be seeing  more homes returning to the market this 2022 Spring season.

In 2021, Surfside Florida's beachfront Champlain Towers condominium collapsed with 98 deaths. This horrible event will now be changing the path on older condominiums and the way mortgages will handle older complexes. February 28, 2022 is the date The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation will enforce stricter requirements. This tragic event is now asking Condominiums to look at their budgets and have a basic 10% reserve requirement. Mortgage lenders will be reviewing pending repairs.

Mortgage rates are still very low (3.1%) which helps consumer spending. The Federal Government was ready to raise the rates until this new Covid variant began to emerge. Housing analysts are predicting rates will be rising in 2022.