Home prices expected to remain out of reach in 'million-dollar cities'
MIAMI - Miami-Dade and Broward counties lost a member of their 'Million Dollar City' club which includes towns and cities where typical homes sell for seven figures or more.
Zillow, an online real estate marketplace, shared research that found nine such cities between the two counties. Last year, it was 10. Parkland no longer ranks among the million-dollar cities.
Economists and realtors see the issue as hurting first-time homebuyers.
Along Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, homeowner Michael Chatila knows the challenge facing potential buyers.
"It's an everyday concern," he said.
Belinda Sime, a realtor who grew up in Pinecrest and now lives in Coral Gables, does not doubt Zillow's data.
"On the outskirts of Miami you could probably get stuff for less than a million dollars but in the main part of the city, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Coconut Grove, and Key Biscayne, it's hard to get anything under (that)," she said. "I don't think the salaries (in the Miami area) are justifying the home values. I think you're going to start to see some sellers who are going to have to start to make some adjustments."
Zillow's list of 'million dollar cities' in Miami-Dade and Broward includes Sea Ranch Lakes, Southwest Ranches, Golden Beach, Bal Harbour, Surfside, Fisher Island, Key Biscayne, Pinecrest, and Coral Gables.
"Every day I'm looking to see what is the possibility of a friend of mine to own or to potentially buy something close to me," Michael Chatila, who purchased his home two years ago.
Zillow's senior economist Orphe Divounguy said rising mortgage rates stalled demand in expensive markets like South Florida.
"Parkland was one of those cities that actually saw a bigger decline in home values since the peak, with home values falling by roughly $50,000 there," he said.
For first-time homebuyers realtors see more pain. In Coral Gables, Sime sees some doctors struggling to find places and young people needing parents to help them afford the property. It is a trend realtors see spreading to other areas like Kendall.
"That's what they're saying," Sime said. "I just can't see it because of the traffic. Our traffic here is out of control right now."
With fewer people listing homes both economists and realtors expect home prices to remain high.