Not long ago, condos were the hot item in the South Florida housing market.
These days the bidding wars are being waged elsewhere.
“You live in a high rise because you like the area, and when the area businesses are shut down, there’s not much to do,” said Oscar Soberon.
A surge in people re-evaluating the urban lifestyle months after COVID-19 changed the landscape.
Soberon just moved to South Florida from Downtown Dallas, where he realized he was spending over $1,000 a month on condo fees for amenities he couldn’t use.
“I’ve heard there are a lot of people doing what I’m doing; migrating from north or bigger cities,” he said.
Tori Simkovic is looking to relocate from the happening Edgewater neighborhood to Southwest Miami-Dade but is finding she’s not alone.
“We picked our condo because it was close to Wynwood, and so we wanted to be near the bars and restaurants,” Simkovic said. “We just put in an offer on a house and there were four other offers.”
In Miami, single family home sales are up almost 17%. Condo transactions are down 3.3% according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
Throughout Florida, the inventory of single family homes is down almost 36% from last year with just over a two month supply.
Real estate advisor Laura Goldberg told Local 10 the number one thing that buyers want is space.
“There’s not as much inventory as we would usually have, and we have more people looking,” Goldberg said.
Throw in a pool and a playground, and you may have a bidding war on your hands. Goldberg pointed to a home in Pinecrest as an example.
“Within three days of listing it, we had five offers, all good offers,” she said. “We had offers over ask.”