On behalf of Marlyn J. Wiener, P.A.  Wednesday, September 7, 2011

As we have mentioned in previous posts, the sale of residential property in South Florida has lately been swinging upward. South Florida real estate prices crept slowly upward in June from an all-time low in April. Prices are still 5.1 percent lower than they were in June 2010, but the increase brings real estate prices in the tri-county area up to 2002 levels. The index level for Tampa also increased from an April low.

The Standard & Poor's/Case Schiller index tracks residential real estate prices based on a benchmark of 100. South Florida scored an index level of 139.46 in June 2011. The South Florida market topped out at 280 in December 2006. Of the 20 regional markets that the S&P/Case Schiller index monitors, only two -- Detroit and Las Vegas -- had index levels below the 2000 benchmark. The index does not include condominium sales.

According to the index, the residential housing market is coming back in scattered pockets. San Francisco's index level, for instance, bottomed out in March 2009. The San Diego market hit bottom in April 2009. On the other hand, Standard & Poor's data still reveals trends at the national level. Prices in all 20 of the index's real estate markets dipped in April 2011 and rose in May and June.

The chairman of Standard & Poor's index committee isn't ready to say that prices in the tri-county area have stabilized. "The Miami area is up the last couple of months and that's nice," he said. "But, if someone asked me to assure them they are past the bottom, I can't say that."