NBC Today Show On Miami's Foreclosure District

NBC's Today Show ran a piece last Friday featuring a section of Miami, Florida that, with reportedly 23,000 condos currently on the market and another 25,000 new units slated to come on the market in the short term, is referred to by area real estate agents as Miami's "foreclosure district." From condo owners desperate to unload their units, to others going into foreclosure, to developers demanding refunds of prepaid commissions from real estate agents on deals where the condo buyer has backed out of his/her purchase contract, this niche of the market sounds like a horror show with the worst yet to come. The one positive point in the story was that, with units selling at steep discounts coupled with the highly inflated value of the euro, some European investors are coming over and making buys at prices that reportedly amount to buying at 50 cents on the dollar. To watch the piece, see Miami Monopoly (regrettably preceded by a 15-30 second TV commercial).

For related stories, see Reuters News service:

• Banks taking back Miami homes at high rate: broker ("Private equity and hedge funds from Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia -- buoyed by their own strong currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar -- are showing interest in bulk purchases of south Florida apartments"),
• Miami condos are "for sale" for foreign buyers ("Realtors, analysts and buyers say the strength of the Canadian dollar, the euro and other foreign currencies, on top of a falling real estate market, is making the United States an enticing place for foreigners looking to buy property").

For an earlier post on the trouble facing Miami's real estate market, see 191 Condo Projects Make Miami-Based Bank's "No Mortgage" Blacklist.

Go here for other posts related to the Miami condo market problem.