For the first time since the housing market collapsed in South Florida, less than 50,000 residential properties are listed for sale.
As recently as 30 months ago, there were some 108,000 residences — 46,600 single-family houses and 60,900 apartment condominiums and townhouses — available to anyone interested in taking the plunge in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. But as of June 13, according to CondoVultures, a real estate agency, just under 50,000 units — 22,000 detached and 27,700 attached — were on the market.
Peter Zalewski, a principal in the Bal Harbour-based firm, said several factors have led to the 50% decline in listings: For one thing, buyers — many of which are from foreign lands with strong currencies relative to the dollar — are "scooping up South Florida properties at dramatic discounts." This, Zalewski, added, is because American citizens who want to take advantage of the bargains cannot find financing.
But another big reason is that many lenders and investors still haven't put their troubled REO properties back on the market. "Lenders that are dealing with the 'robo-signing' controversy involving administrative irregularities with the foreclosure process appear to be still withholding bank-owned properties from the resale market," Zalewski said.
According to CondoVultures, as of June 13, there were less than 1,950 bank-owned properties actively being marketed in the South Florida resale market, a market beset by a large number of foreclosures. Bank-owned properties currently represent less than 4% of the available resale inventory in the tri-county area.
