In similar fashion to the single-family home sales, the condo market saw traditional transactions drop in June.  Although mortgage rates didn’t climb until late in the month, they still had a noticeable impact on closings.

In June, the breakdown of condo closings was as follows:

• 1,355 total closings in the Broward County condo/townhouse market
• 931 traditional transactions which made up 69% of all closings
• 232 Foreclosure/REO sales which made up 17% of all closings
• 192 Short Sale transactions which made up 14% of all closings

Next we have a snapshot of the median sale prices for each transaction type.

We have noticed a disturbing trend starting to develop in new foreclosure filings in the condo/townhouse segment.  In June, there were only 424 distressed sales, but there were 794 new foreclosure cases filed.

Meanwhile, the inventory of available condo/townhouse units listed for sale keeps bumping around down by the lows.  In June there were only 5,962 units available for sale.

Next we have a chart which outlines where over 14,000 condo/townhouse units are scattered throughout the county.

In summary, there are over twice as many units in foreclosure than listed for sale.  Add to that the pace of new foreclosure filings not only continues to increase, but was nearly double the rate of distressed property sales last month.  This last chart puts the disparity between listed condo inventory and the shadow inventory of foreclosures into perspective.

For the South Florida condo market to begin a true recovery, the elevated level of properties in foreclosure will have to get into the hands of people who will actually pay the mortgage.  Distressed property sales will gradually increase over the next year or two as this shadow inventory gets worked off and prices will suffer.  Prices have been artificially supported as foreclosures have remained off the market and that charade will not last forever.