South Florida's housing market continued to struggle in August. Nationwide, the price for existing homes went down for the first time in 11 years.
Sherri Wells put her one-bedroom waterfront condominium in Fort Lauderdale up for sale in February.
Seven months and four price cuts later, she's still waiting for a buyer.
She and many other home sellers are by now all too familiar with the languid pace of South Florida's housing market, which continued through August with no end in sight.
''At first I would at least get four or five calls over a weekend,'' said Wells, who is trying to sell the condo for $265,000 after getting married and moving elsewhere. ``Now I am not getting any calls.''
The numbers released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors showed that in Broward, prices for condos and houses were either flat or down from both last month and last year. It was the same story in Miami-Dade, with one exception: Prices for single-family homes were still 6 percent higher than in August last year.
The housing slowdown also continues to play out across the country. For the first time in more than a decade, the national price for an existing home dropped from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
''We are trying to find the bottom,'' said Mike Pappas, chief executive and president of The Keyes Co., which sells homes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. ``The sooner we get there, the better we will all be.''
FLAGGING SALES
The broad trend in South Florida remains flagging sales but not steep price drops -- although there are signs of prices weakening. Prices for Miami-Dade condos, a closely watched sector because of concerns about speculation and overbuilding, have dropped in the last two months compared to a year ago.
What was once a sellers' market now favors buyers, as the number of homes on the market continued to rise in August. That number is now four times what it was for houses and condominiums in Broward, for example, and three times higher for Miami-Dade.
A big culprit: sluggish sales.
Sales for single-family homes were down 37 percent in Miami-Dade and 27 percent in Broward from a year ago. Sales for condos were down 30 percent in Miami-Dade and 33 percent in Broward.
The Florida Association of Realtors does not track sales in the Florida Keys.
For prices, the median cost for an existing single-family home in August stood at $378,800 in Miami-Dade. That is up 6 percent from last year and basically flat compared to July. For Broward it was $362,800, down 6 percent from last year and down 4 percent from July.
The median is the point at which half are above and half below.
A median priced condo in August sold for $249,800 in Miami-Dade, down 3 percent from a year ago and flat from July. In Broward, a median priced condo sold for $204,300, up 1 percent from last year and down 2 percent from July.
''It remains to be seen how much further a decline in sales will go,'' said David Dabby, a real estate analyst in Coral Gables who predicted prices will stay stagnant, but the condo market may see price drops.
How long and deep the trough will go remains an open question. The market may cool off further in part because of the size and duration of the boom. But unemployment and mortgage rates remain low. The average fixed rate 30-year mortgage stands at 6.40 percent.
Many observers say prices moved beyond what many buyers could afford and investors and speculators finally pulled out of the market.
Some say primary buyers got spooked and are on the sidelines waiting for the market to settle down.
TAX SHOCKER
For Sherri Wells, however, a willing buyer could not come any sooner. After Wells moved out, her property tax increases for the condo were no longer capped because it was no longer her primary residence.
As a result, she said her property taxes shot up from $890 a year to more than $4,000.
''There is no way I could ever charge enough rent to cover what the mortgage and taxes have become,'' she said. ``They are not making any more waterfront properties, so it would be a great place to keep. But not with the property taxes -- I am trying to sell as soon as I can.''
