Some in South Florida regret sitting on housing market sidelines

[Zorro]

Now, buyers find homes are $100,000 more expensive.

FORT LAUDERDALE — As South Florida home prices spiked during the pandemic, some people decided to put their home shopping on pause in the hopes that prices might drop, a decision they are coming to regret.

Now, a year-and-a-half into record price growth and dwindling inventory, non-buyers are stuck in a precarious situation: They want to buy but are facing higher prices than they did when they first started searching and are finding themselves at risk of being priced out of the South Florida real estate market.

“They feel like they made a mistake at some point, and they feel like they can’t catch up because the market is so far ahead of them that they can’t get back in,” said Alicia Cervera, of Cervera Real Estate in Miami.

Allie Sinbine and her husband, Steve, were among those who decided to try and wait out the real estate market after they started looking at homes in June 2020. They put their search on pause a month after shopping, thinking it was likely that homes prices would start to lower toward the end of the year.

“We assumed that with the New Year and the election ending, we would start to see things level out and they would come back down to where they were,” she said.

Instead, home prices just kept rising, further pushing the couple out of the housing market. They are looking for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the $250,000-to-$300,000 range, but as prices have continued to climb, they’ve expand their search beyond Palm Beach County, farther north to Port St. Lucie. They’re exploring new construction homes and considering that they may have to up their budget a little bit.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2021/12/26/some-in-south-florida-regret-sitting-on-housing-market-sidelines/

I think this housing market is different than 2007. There's too much money sloshing around and there are historically low interest rates, along with Boomer retirees looking for warmer climates; that combination points to continued house price appreciation in the Sunshine State at least in the short term.

[rso]

1. Home prices

Yep, our Palm Beach County home more than doubled in value in under 7 years.

[PortTack]

2. S FL is gong to be under water in the not too distant future..a blessing in disguise

[Lydiarose]

4. Florida Doomed

You're absolutely correct, but so few people are willing to accept that. They are STILL building new high rises in Miami Beach!!
Sea level rise
The threat: By any estimation, Florida is drowning. In some scenarios, sea levels will rise up to 31in by 2060, a devastating prediction for a region that already deals regularly with tidal flooding and where an estimated 120,000 properties on or near the water are at risk. The pace of the rise is also hastening, scientists say – it took 31 years for the waters around Miami to rise by six inches, while the next six inches will take only 15 more. At such a rate, many of Miami Beach’s landmarks, the world famous South Beach, and the picturesque art deco hotels of Ocean Drive, will be lost within three decades, according to some studies.

[mitch96]

6. I see it as realestate musical chairs. They will buy and sell properties till the water is lapping

at the doors. On the other hand when insurance companies and wall street think it's no longer viable the market will sink like a stone.. YMMV
m

[mitch96]

3. I sold my So Fla home in Sept 2020. It's already gone up almost $100,000 since then.. uff..

It sold in three days and for $5000 more than asking... Crazy!!
m

[Lydiarose]

5. Where did you move to?

Want to sell and move, but afraid I won't find another place to live.

[mitch96]

7. I'm 60' above sea level in the Tampa St Pete area. In South Florida I was a whopping

9 feet above sea level... SIX MILES from the sea shore. Lived thru Hurricane Andrew and I still pucker during hurricane season. The geographic therapy really helped. Prices are not as high, but high enough. Traffic sucks in and around where I live and it's mostly snow birds during the season. Just a wee bit cooler also but not by much..
YMMV
m