Return to floridacdc.org mainpage Fair Use Disclaimer Floridacdc.org is a nonprofit, noncommercial website that, at times, may contain copyrighted material that have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It makes such material available in its efforts to advance the understanding of poverty and low income distressed neighborhoods in hopes of helping to find solutions for those problems. It believes that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Persons wishing to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of their own that go beyond 'fair use' must first obtain permission from the copyright owner. Miami-Today News - 4/29/04 Miami-Dade home prices jump 17% since March 2003 By Marilyn Bowden While home prices in South Florida continue to climb, sales growth last month fell far behind that in the rest of the state, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. Local brokers, however, say the market here is still hot. The association's monthly tally of sales in key metropolitan areas shows sales of existing homes last month in the Greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas rose 3% from March 2003. Only Gainesville, at 1%, had a lower showing. Median home prices jumped 17% in Miami and 19% in Fort Lauderdale. Maurice J. Veissi of Veissi Associates, a past president of the state organization, said there's no cause for alarm. "There are 17 million people in the state, and almost a third live in South Florida," he said. "So the numbers are going to rise more slowly here." The lower sales figures coupled with rising prices could be a result of dwindling inventory, said Mr. Veissi, an incoming regional vice president for the National Association of Realtors. It could also be a statistical blip, he said. "Anything within a reasonable price range is still scooting off the shelves," he said. "We would need to see lower figures for three or four months to begin to figure out if this is a true slowdown." Appreciation can be accounted for by low inventory, said Keyes Co. President Michael Pappas. "The inventory of single-family homes is down 20% from last year," he said, "and it's not being replaced."