Market Watch – Fort Lauderdale Ocean Access

Northeast Broward Single Family Waterfront Report

Northeast Broward County is famous for its variety of single family homes along hundreds of miles of inland waterways with boating access to the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Lauderdale is the city known as the Venice of the Americas, but neighboring Pompano Beach and Lighthouse Point have their fair share of boating property as well. While not as well known among boaters, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Deerfield Beach and Wilton Manors also have some ocean access options.

Our latest waterfront market watch report provides buyers and sellers with the facts, trends and statistics surrounding this very popular real estate segment. For more information, please read our Boater’s Guide to Buying a Home or speak with one of our Waterfront Specialists.

Waterfront Property

Inventory and List Prices

We always keep a close eye on inventory levels in our local markets, but lately we are seeing some very interesting trends, especially in the single family waterfront market. Lets take a closer look.

Active Inventory – Single Family Waterfront with Ocean Access

Single Family waterfront sales this summer are up 46% with 87 closed sales in July and 91 sales in August, the 2 biggest months in this segment in 2 years!

Inventory levels started the year low, down about 10% from the previous year, and continued to stay low through the pandemic. There were 506 Active listings in August, down over 14% from August of 2019. On September 18, 2020 we had 427 active listings and we are absorbing an average of 69 units per month over the previous 6 months. This translates to 6.2 months of supply, which would normally be considered an equilibrium market. However, we have to consider that sales in April were down 47% from last year and down 16% in May. And, sales throughout the summer months are up 46% with inventory being absorbed much faster than it is being replenished. There were 87 closed sales in July and 91 in August, the 2 biggest sales months in the past 2 years! This will be an interesting segment to watch throughout the fall. We will keep you updated!

Active Listing Prices

The hottest and most competitive segment in our marketplace is single family ocean-access waterfront homes under $1,000,000 with only 2.5 months of supply.

Listing prices in this segment range from $485,000 for a home behind 3 fixed bridges in Pompano Beach to a $32,000,000 point lot estate (brand new construction) on the New River in the Las Olas Isles neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. The current median list price is $2,399,000 and the median sales price over the last 6 months is $1,015,000. This spread between list prices and sales prices demonstrates the top heavy nature of our market with more inventory in the higher price ranges. Above the median list price there is currently 24 months of supply, whereas below this median price NE Broward has only 3.6 months of supply. And, if you’re looking at waterfront property below $1,000,000 then prepare yourself for a challenge. This is the hottest and most competitive segment in our marketplace with only 2.5 months of supply.

Median Sales Prices

Pompano Beach is our rising star with median price increases of over 35% since 2016 and almost 12% since last year.

Waterfront ocean access property in the Fort Lauderdale area has experienced consistent price gains over the past five years. Since 2016 median prices in all of NE Broward have increased almost 32% and almost 7% over last year. Given current inventory levels, the overall strength of the local economy and the increased “pandemic” interest in South Florida real estate, there is good reason to expect this trend will continue for years to come. After all, they’re not making any more waterfront property, not in South Florida anyway. The following graph displays median price appreciation over the past 5 years for our most popular waterfront markets. Pompano Beach is our rising star with median price increases of over 35% since 2016 and almost 12% since last year. Note: Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Deerfield Beach and Wilton Manors do have ocean access property, but are smaller markets with not enough data points to demonstrate a trend.

Conclusion

Waterfront real estate with ocean access has always been highly desirable in South Florida, especially for boaters and ocean enthusiasts. Our coastal communities offer the most diverse selection of ocean access real estate available in a variety of price ranges. For more information about buying boating property in our area, please read our Boater’s Guide to Buying a Home and contact one of our waterfront agents for assistance. 

Would you like the full report? Please contact us to request a copy.

Read our August NE Broward Inventory Report Including Condos

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