MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – While some realtors may be proclaiming the real estate market in South Florida is on the rebound; new numbers from RealtyTrac show the foreclosure crisis is stalled and may not clear out in South Florida for two more years.
Florida had the second highest state total of foreclosures despite an overall 55 percent decrease in foreclosure activity in the Sunshine State for the last six months. Part of the stalled foreclosures is coming from the robo-signing scandal and a backlog of foreclosures in the system.
RealtyTrac found that in Florida, the foreclosure process takes approximately 676 days. That is the reason behind many strategic defaults people use to stay in their homes until the foreclosure process is completed.
Theoretically, the homeowner can stay in the home and not pay the rent for upwards of two years before leaving the property.
All of this is causing median selling prices in Florida to stay down. In addition, the average days on the market for homes across the nation remained at 90 days and haven’t dropped below 88 since last September.
Still, powered largely by international buyers and cash deals, 2011 remains on track to be a record breaker for overall closings.
