South Florida housing sales end 2024 up from 2023 numbers, but some recent downward trends continue

Home sales in NE Florida are a bit sluggish.

The South Florida housing market ended 2024 stronger than the year prior, but there remain some warning signs heading into 2025.

All three major South Florida counties saw increased signed closings in home sales in December in terms of year-over-year figures, according to the “Elliman Report,” which analyzes housing markets across much of the country. It’s the first time this year that all three coastal counties saw annual increases in home sales in the monthly report.

Broward County witnessed the most dramatic change in housing sales in December. There were 669 single-family homes closed in December. That’s a whopping 155.3% increase over the December 2023 figure of 262 homes sold. It’s also a huge jump over November’s homes sold total, which came in at 195.

“Signed contracts for the combination of single-family and condos rose for the first time since June 2021, enabled by the steady addition of new listings over the past several years,” Elliman Report analysts concluded. “The county has been a laggard compared to its north and south neighbors, likely due to a post-election bump.”

Palm Beach County also saw a notable annual increase in single-family home sales, though nowhere near as radical as Broward County. Palm Beach had 236 homes sold in December, a 24.2% hike over December 2023, when 190 homes were sold.

While December’s figure is up in the year-over-year comparison, it’s down from November’s number of homes sold in Palm Beach, which was 251.

Miami-Dade County maintained a relatively even keel in single-family home sales. The county routinely reported some upticks in sales occasionally throughout 2024. There were 577 homes sold in December in Miami-Dade, an 11% increase over December 2023’s figure of 520 sales.

But it was a drop from November, when there were 585 closings the previous month.

While single-family home sales increased in year-over-year comparisons, all three counties also saw significant increases in inventory as they all recorded substantial jumps in new listings compared to December 2023. Palm Beach saw a 30.7% increase in new listings, Broward witnessed a 39.4% jump over last year and Miami Dade recorded a 26.7% increase in new listings compared to December 2023.