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Miami Beach real estate is still in trouble, believes Joe Weisenthal of the Business Insider on November 5, 2009.  The writer opens by saying “Even after all this time, the infamous South Florida condo market remains mired in a funk. But actually the numbers are improving, slightly.”  Unfortunately, foreclosures have become a regular part of life in Miami Beach where “lenders filed an average of 272 foreclosure actions per day in October 2009 against properties in the tricounty South Florida region, representing an eight percent year-over-year increase compared to 2008 and an 86 percent increase from 2007.  Miami-Dade County, where Miami Beach, Aventura, and Coral Gables are located, realized a 10 percent increase in foreclosure actions in October 2009 on a year-over-year basis with 1,928 filings. In previous Octobers, there were 1,752 foreclosure actions filed in 2008 and 1,376 initiated in 2007.”

One good thing for Miami Beach homes for sale is that home transactions and sales are beginning to become more familiar as the number of deals closed begins to rise.  Monica Hatcher of the Miami Herald wrote on October 23, 2009, that “sales of existing South Florida home continued apace in September, as buyers hurried to close on purchases before the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit expires Nov. 30.”  More good news came in the numbers that showed “sales of single-family homes in Miami-Dade were up 51 percent in September from the same month a year ago, and condo sales were up 73 percent.”

Real estate in Miami Beach has very followed the trends of other similar cities and communities around the United States.  Interestingly, according to James Hagerty of the Wall Street Journal on November 17, 2009, “the average U.S. home price nearly doubled between January 2000 and April 2006, according to the First American Loan Performance index. Since then, the average has fallen about 30%. The drop has been 53% in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and 39% in Miami, where about a quarter of all households with mortgages are behind on their payments or in foreclosure.”