Florida's biggest metropolis got caught up in housing fever as few other housing markets did -- and it's paying for it now. During the boom years, home prices more than doubled and thousands of new communities and condominiums were built.
However, not all of those projects were finished before the bubble burst. Instead, those units came open in a real estate wasteland, with few buyers and tons of foreclosures to compete with. Having that level of supply available has sent Miami's median home price plummeting by 60% from the peak.
When home prices were soaring, investors and homebuyers alike used dangerous loans to purchase, hoping continued appreciation would make things work out. Many of those loans have defaulted, putting houses back on the market.
And there will be more to come.
Many, many area homeowners are underwater, and one in every 14 households received a foreclosure filing in 2010. That puts Miami in fifth place nationwide for foreclosures.
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