South Florida saw a radical reversal in single-family home sales in September, and a recent drop in interest rates is being credited for the spike in the market.
All three South Florida coastal counties reported huge increases in home sales last month. Even more eye-popping: The condominium market also underwent a spectacular turnaround after struggling mightily the past few years.
The latest “Elliman Report[1]” showed stunning increases in single-family home sales in Palm Beach County. There was a 497.7% jump in the year-over-year comparison for new signed home contracts in September.
There were 264 homes sold in Palm Beach in September 2024. Elliman figures showed that number soared to 1,566 last month. That’s also a strong surge from the previous month[2], when there were 933 homes sold.
“The decrease in mortgage rates over the past two months spurred the release of pent-up demand as new signed contracts rebounded from last year’s multi-year lows. The increase in sales prevented new listings from rising during the same period for the past two months,” Elliman Report analysts concluded in a news release.
Mortgage rates had already started to tick downward in late Summer. But the Federal Reserve announced[3] again on Sept. 17 that there would be a 0.25-percentage-point decrease in interest rates, driving a typical 30-year mortgage interest rate down to near 6%. Those figures had been hovering around 7% for the past few years.
While Palm Beach County witnessed the most extreme increase in home sales in September, other South Florida counties also had gaudy increases.
Broward County reported a 320.9% year-to-year hike in single-family homes, going from 389 in September 2024 to 1,633 this September. That’s also significantly up from the August 2025 number of 990 sales.
Miami-Dade County, which had been the most sluggish South Florida area of home sales for months on end, also had an impressive turnaround. There were 1,443 newly signed contracts in September. That’s a 118.3% spike from September 2024, when there were 661. The monthly comparison also showed a dramatic increase, with just 815 sales in August.
Condo sales, which had been mired in bleak figures for years, suddenly turned optimistic as well. Palm Beach had 1,716 sales close in the condo market last month, a 603.3% increase from September 2024’s figure of 244.
Broward reported a 441.3% annual increase in condo closings, going from 368 in September 2024 to 1,992 last month.
Miami-Dade also was decidedly more sunny when it comes to the condo market, with 2,209 units sold in September. That’s a 193.4% spike from the 753 sales a year ago.
References
- ^ Elliman Report (elliman.com)
- ^ the previous month (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ Federal Reserve announced (apnews.com)