Real Estate Investments

Florida Realtors 2021 Year-End Statistics

Fort Lauderdale Homes Up A Whopping 36%

The Average Sales Price for a Single Family Home in Fort Lauderdale rose a staggering 36.2% in 2021. In addition, the Median discount from Listing Price was Zero, meaning the vast majority of homes either sold for full asking or more than the Listed Price.

These startling figures are according to the latest year-end statistics released by the Florida Association of Realtors. Though seemingly incredible on face value these are accurate numbers. Statistics released by the Florida Realtors are generated by compiling sales reported through the MLS of local realtor associations across the state.

In 2020 the Average Sales Price for a Single Family Home in the city of Fort Lauderdale was $893,479; in 2021 it was $1,216,958.

The Median Sales Price, a more traditional indication of actual appreciation, for a Single Family Home in Fort Lauderdale increased 20%, from $500,000 in 2020 to $600,000 in 2021.

These figures are driven by the high demand for luxury waterfront properties from upscale buyers coming in from the Northeast and California.

Negotiation Is Futile

Stats regarding the discount from Listing to Sale Price are perhaps even more amazing. The "Median Percent of Original List Price Received" tracks the spread between asking and closing prices. With such an active Real Estate Market South Florida, and Fort Lauderdale in particular, are already known for being a tough place to negotiate. Historically, this Median Percent of Original List Price Received in Single Family Homes is around 95-96% of their asking, with Condominium and Townhome properties around 94-95%. In 2020, in Broward County, this number was 96.9% for Single Family, 94.9% for Condos (Villas and Townhomes). In 2021, however, the Median Percent of List Price received for a house was 100% and 98.9% for condos.

Condo Market Strong

The market for Condominium and Townhome properties was somewhat less sizzling, though still robust. The Average Sales Price for these properties rose 15.5%, from $488,172 in 2020 to $563,645 in 2021.

These figures were more in line with the Median Prices. In 2020 the Median Price for a Condominium and/or Townhome property was $335,000; in 2021 it was $383,750. That represents a year over year increase of 14.6%.

Once again we see the Fort Lauderdale location outperforming the State, South Florida and Broward County numbers.

Across the State of Florida, the Average Sales Price for a Single Family Home increased 25.8% (from $401,478 in 2020 to $505,129 in 2021). For South Florida (the reporting area comprised of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties) the ASP increased from $634,142 in 2020 to $861,060 in 2021, rising 35%. Broward County reported an increase of 26.1%, from $530,166 in 2020 to $668,533 in 2021.

After languishing for some years the Condo market in Fort Lauderdale has also shown a sharp increase. The Average Sales Price for a Condominium or Townhome property rose 15.5% to $563,645 while the Median Sales Price went up 14.6% to $383,750.

Condo and Townhome numbers were strong throughout the state. Broward County reported a 19.8% increase in Average Sale Price (from $247,683 in 2020 to $296,632 in 2021) and a 15.1% rise in Median Sale Price (from $189,000 in 2020 to $217,500 in 2021. In the South Florida reporting area comprised of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties the Average Sales Price for a Condominium and/or Townhome property rose 33.7% (from $333,738 in 2020 to $444,110 in 2021). For the same annum Median Sales Price increased from $220,000 in 2020 to $265,000 in 2021, or 20.5%. Across the state of Florida Average Sales Price for a Condominium or Townhome property went up 26.4% (from $303,051 in 2020 to $382,963 in 2021). Median Sale Price, statewide, grew from $215,000 in 2020 to $252,000 in 2021, an increase of 17.2%.

Home Prices Rise All Over South Florida

The strong housing market has led to sharp increases in home prices all across South Florida. The largest appreciation was in the small village of Sea Ranch Lakes, an exclusive enclave you enter through a guard gate along A1A just north of Lauderdale-By-The Sea, where Median Price rose 19.3% and the Average Sale Price of a Single Family Home increased 46.4%, from $1,701,000 in 2020 to $2,491,429 in 2021. Interestingly enough, 71% of all home sales in Sea Ranch Lakes were cash purchases, but before you get too impressed we should admit that was 10 of 14 total transactions.

Other municipalities:

In Pompano Beach, Median Price increased 21.9% (from $310,000 in 2020 to $378,000 in 2021) and the Average Sale Price rose 29.4% (from $447,642 to $579,351).

In Lighthouse Point, Median Price rose 37.4% (from $800,000 to 1,099,000) and Average Sale Price increased 22.7% (from$1,185,598 to $1,454,215).

Median Price for a Single Family Home in the city of Hollywood, Florida, increased 18.9% (from $349,000 in 2020 to $414,900); Average Sale Price went from $439,251 to $524,496, going up 19.4%.

Not surprisingly, the two sister Bedroom Communities of Davie and Cooper City showed almost identical numbers. Median Price increased 22.2% in Davie, 17.5% in Cooper City (respectively $495,000 to $605,000 and $464,00 to $545,000), while the Average Sale Price rose 17.8% in Davie (from $626,292 to $737,556) and 18.9% in Cooper City (from $516,525 to $614,049).

In the upscale western suburb of Weston Average Home Sale Price increased 22.3% (from $660,000 in 2020 to $808,426 in 2021), while Median Price rose from $567,000 in 2020 to $670,000 in 2021, a rise of 18.2%.

Another upscale suburb, Parkland, reported even better increases in home prices. Average Sales Price in this suburb rose 27.5%, while the Median Price went up 26.8% (respectively, from $773,674 to $986,395 and $690,000 to $$875,000).

Even historically middle-class neighborhoods are also showing significant appreciation in home values as it gets harder and harder for young buyers to find starter homes.

Single family residences in Plantation rose 24.4% in Average Sale Price (from $512,378 to $637,649) and 20.7% in Median Sale Price (from $447,500 to $540,000). Homes in Coral Springs increased 21.7% in Average Sales Price ($458,644 to $558,119) and 19,1% in Median ($445,000 to $530,000.

In Pembroke Pines SFRs rose 18.5% in Average Sale Price to $508,854 in 2021 from $429,438 in 2020, and the Median went up 14.3% to $478,500 in 2021 from the 2020 number of $418,500.

Coconut Creek reported an 18.3% increase in Average Sales Price (from $387,443 in 2020 to $458,178 in 2021, and a 17.1% jump in Median Price ($380,000 in 2020 to $445,000 in 2021.)

Interesting enough, the apparent outlier in Broward County seems to be the aforementioned seaside village of Lauderdale-by-The-Sea. (Or, as I prefer to call it - Stoplights-by-The-Sea) For some inexplicable reason the Average Sales Price for a Single Family Home in this little tourist trap along the beach rose only 1.4% (to $1,006,606 in 2021 from $992,834 in the previous annum), and the Median Price increased a paltry 4.0% (from$745,000 in 2020 to $775,000 in 2021. This is after showing sharp upticks last year, between 2019 and 2020, when Average Sales Price rose 26.5% and the Median 19.2%

Statistics for all the municipalities in Broward County can be found by clicking on the buttons below, following the links.

Will "The Bubble" Burst?

Don't hold your breath.

Clearly 36% year-over-year increases in home values are not sustainable, so I would not be surprised to see the market slow down a little, consolidate somewhat, but it is difficult for me to believe this is a "Bubble" which is going to burst. Unlike the crazy market in the early 2000s, which was driven largely by insane speculation, this is a demand driven spike in prices caused predominantly by an sizable influx of high-end real estate buyers from the Northeast and West Coast. Thanks to the Covid pandemic many people with high paying jobs in Finance and similar industries can now work from home. Why pay millions for a 1,200 square foot co-op in a sub-arctic urban craphole like New York City? That same money can buy you a luxury waterfront home in the tropical paradise of Fort Lauderdale. Aside from the Blade Runner congestion and the out-of-control homeless crisis in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California just raised its State Income Tax to 16%. As a result, many substantial and upscale home buyers are looking for more Bang For Their Buck in the proverbial Sunshine State, with a Homestead Exemption of your Primary Residence and no state income tax.

2021 Year End Real Estate Market Reports

Click on buttons to download a pdf of statistical reports.

Some Charts you might find interesting

S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index – South Florida Metro

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties
from 1987 through May 2023

South Florida (Blue) versus U.S.) Since 1987

Since The Pandemic

S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index – South Florida Metro
from 2019 through May 2023

South Florida (Blue) versus U.S.) Since 2019

30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Average in the United States

Real Estate Taxes

Run Cursor over map to see where each State ranks.

Total Tax Burden by State

Run Cursor over map to see where each State ranks.

In-Depth Analysis & Projections

Home Price Appreciation in Fort Lauderdale Inevitable

As a professional full-time realtor I pay a lot of attention to housing statistics. Not just some housing statistics. ALL the statistics. Sherlock Holmes used to say: "Always fit the theory to the facts, not the facts to the theory." CoreLogic, RealtyTrac, S&P / Case Shiller, the National Association of Realtors and the Florida Association of Realtors all release real estate market reports on a monthly basis. Yet, I read articles where people seize upon selected data supporting their position, neglect to consider all the facts.

I don't know if there is any place this has cost people more money than around Fort Lauderdale and South Florida. We have a unique market. It is highly shopped, extremely active, dynamic.

Over the past few months and years some very interesting statistics have emerged. Taken individually these numbers are all compelling on their own, but when you add them all together I think they paint a pretty clear picture of what's in store for the Fort Lauderdale real sstate market moving forward.

1. Not Making Any More

It's usually recited about beach front property, but there's an old Real Estate Adage: "They're not making any more of it."

That has never been truer than it is in Fort Lauderdale, the primo location in the state of Florida. There is only so much land. Broward County is not large to begin with, approximately 27 miles north and south, perhaps 45 miles east to west. However, around 60% of this geographic area are wetlands which cannot be developed without cutting off their own water supply. They can no longer build any anything else beyond the Sawgrass Expressway and US-27, which are somewhere between 10 and 15 miles from the coast. So the entire county is 1,320 square miles with 115 square miles of water. Boil it all down this leaves only 471 square miles of developable dry land.

At this point this developable land is now 99.99% developed. There are no more swaths of scrub forest east of US-27 and the Sawgrass which can be bull-dozed into housing projects. Drive the Sawgrass Expressway through northern Broward you see housing developments and commercial properties along the east side of the road, and along the west side of the highway it is literally The Everglades – whip grass, wading birds and alligators.

2. Come On Down

Recently Florida surpassed New York as the third most populous state in the nation. Well, you never have to shovel sunshine off your driveway. Admittedly the population is increasing rapidly through Central Florida, but Broward County is arguably the most desirable part of the state. In 1960 they took the Census, there were 60,000 residents. Ten years later in 1970 there were 600,000. Currently the population is around 1.75 million and projected to climb to almost 2.3 million by the year 2020.

That's 550,000 more people – or an additional 31.4% – moving into the same 471 square miles of dry land.

That's an additional 1,167 people per square mile, with the current density being 3,715 residents per square mile.

3. Location, Location, Location

In addition to geographic limitations and population growth projections we also took note of some intruiging statistics compiled by the Florida Association of Realtors concerning the continued rise in the median price for both single family homes and condominiums.

Below are links to Year End Summary Reports for sales of single family homes and condos across the state. Click on the images if you wish to see these reports, but I can save you the trouble. They show the median price increased 15.9% year over year in single family, and 20.1% for townhomes and condos.

Closer analysis of these numbers confirms an assertion I have been telling my customers for the last couple years – that better properties will outperform the statewide average.

This is illustrated in the report below: Florida Residential Market Sales Activity, Statewide by Metropolitan Statistical Area.

In the reporting area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano, Median Price for Single Family Homes rose 20.3% year to year, 26.2% in condos and townhomes, versus the statewide average above, 15.9% in single family, 20.1% for townhomes and condos).

These numbers are still a bit skewed, however, for companies that compile these statistics use a very large reporting area for South Florida, typically encompassing all of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Were you to distill these stats down to Broward County, the better location within that reporting area, the numbers would undoubtedly increase. And if we could isolate the east side of Fort Lauderdale, they'd go up even higher.

4. Connect The Dots

Talk about a No Brainer, this would seem to be a simple matter of connecting the dots, what this should mean for property values in Fort Lauderdale and throughout Broward County. 1) We don't have much land. 2) Population is growing. 3) Demand is increasing. And 4) Prime property will outperform the overall average.

Add these factors up significant appreciation in property values seems relatively inevitable. In addition, whatever rate of appreciation you might wish to forecast for the overall county-wide average, it shall be markedly greater in prime real estate – waterfont homes, oceanfront condos, houses and townhomes in nice nieghborhoods along the coast.

In My Professional Opinion

We are looking at a pretty good stretch into the foreseeable future, barring Acts of God, asteroid impacts and/or the total collapse of Western Civilization. Bouncing off the bottom real estate values jumped across South Florida, increasing almost 30% through 2012-13. People were talking about another bubble, but the market consolidated through 2015, then got back on track in 2014. Meantime, depending upon which market reports you are quoting, property values have increased for the last 40-50 consecutive months. The most current reports project 2016 shall mark a return to normalcy nationwide, but a "normal" market in South Florida real estate typically means annual appreciation of 8-10%.

If 8-10% annual appreciation in an active market which will allow you to sell your property and take your profit isn't good enough for you – good luck and God bless.

In 2010 I told my customers to start buying. The housing market in Fort Lauderdale had stabilized, had started inching upward. I told customers as soon as real estate investors noticed prices going up in South Florida we'd have a mini land rush. Well, I was right. Customers who listened have already seen great appreciation. Others started citing stuff they were reading on the Internet about the "Shadow Inventory" – this mythical tidal wave of impending foreclosures that was going to swamp our market like a tsunami. Now those people are sitting in a little rubber raft on the beach in their rain slickers and their floppy hats, waiting for the big wave. Meanwhile, people who listenend are lounging on the balcony of their luxury oceanfront residence sipping mojitos and laughing at those crackpots in the rubber rafts, wondering what we pay the Police for anyway.

Explosive Long Term Growth

Much has been made of the volatility of the South Florida Real Estate market, especially in the past few years, but I think it's important to put this all in proper historical context.

The best indicator of this may be the Standard & Poor's / Case-Shiller Home Price Index. This highly regarded index tracks the values of the same houses over time. Some analysts argue that's a better measure than the median price.

Below is the most recent chart tracking home values in the reporting area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties versus the (green line) U.S. average.

I don't think I've ever seen the strength of the South Florida Real Estate market more graphically illustrated.

First thing that hits you, of course, is that big spike, how crazy the market must've been from 2003 to 2005 – that sharp up-tick and that steep decline. It happened on a national level as well, just not as dramatically. Even so, remember that spike represents a bunch of money that was made. Many people lost it all, and then some, pouring it back into the market, but that's on them. It does not change the fact that big profits were made.

Perhaps most fascinating, however, is the long term overall trend. Look at this second chart below where I have added the blue trend line, following the overall upward trend of home prices in South Florida dating back to the mid-70s. Home prices went crazy from 2003 to 2005, shot up and then plummeted, but in the end price levels still wound up a little higher than they probably whould've been given their historical upward climb.

Particularly impressive is what the South Florida market has done since 2011 or so. Not only has it risen faster than the overall trend, but if you consult the first chart above you will see our property values have risen much faster than the national average.

Appreciation All But Inevitable

As previously stated, taking all these factors into consideration I feel that buying property in South Florida, especially Fort Lauderdale, is pretty much a No-Brainer.

South Florida Real Estate has always followed a boom and bust cycle. Fortunes have been made here. As long as we've got the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulfstream, palm trees gently swaying in tropical Trade Winds off a turquoise ocean – and heaters we only use two weeks of the year – significant appreciation of home values is relatively inevitable.

Some years ago I got into my car, found the carpet and floor mats soaked. Took it into the shop. The mechanic told me the water had sat in my car heater so long without circulating it had rusted right through the pipes.

Where else in the country is that going to happen?

So buy now or forever hold your "piece" – of Cleveland, Newark or Detroit.