Let’s see how the single-family home market in Broward County is looking now that we have 3/4 of 2013 in the books.  First, we will take a look at the sale prices through September.

You will notice from the chart that the average selling price dropped slightly in September to $327,427.  Also, from the next chart it appears that new properties are finally getting listed on the market and prospective buyers will have more properties to choose from after years of supply decreasing in the area.

For prospective buyers, this is actually a great sign.  Since prices have rebounded, more sellers are deciding to list their properties because they are no longer underwater on their mortgage, or prices have reached a level where they feel comfortable selling their property.  South Florida has experienced a drought in housing supply, so maybe this is the start of a new trend.

Next, let’s look at what types of transactions are closing.

In September, the breakdown of 1,396 single-family home sales in Broward County was as follows:

• There were 877 traditional sales, for just over 72% of all closings
• There were 139 foreclosure/REO sales that accounted for just over 11% of all closings
• There were 195 short sale transactions completed and they made up almost 17% of closings

The next issue that needs to be discussed is the massive shadow inventory of houses in some stage of foreclosure throughout Broward County, Florida.

As of our last calculation on October 21, 2013, there were over 50,000 houses in some stage of foreclosure in Broward County and we have listed each city in the chart above.  Keep in mind that this chart does not include over 16,000 condo/townhouse properties throughout the county.

Adding to the already swollen foreclosure backlog is the pace of new foreclosure filings.  In September, there were 1,794 new foreclosure filings in the Broward County single-family home market.  Once again, this does not include the 626 condo townhouse properties that entered the foreclosure filing in September.  Here is a chart showing the monthly filings.

Finally, just to illustrate how massive the shadow inventory is compared to the available listings for sale, take a look at the last chart.  There will not be a true housing recovery in Broward County until all of the distressed homes get through the long foreclosure process (over 900 days on average).  Until the shadow inventory is reduced significantly, the residential real estate market will not see a true “recovery”.