Real Estate headlines this week have been a mixed bag of good, sad and ugly.
While the Fort Lauderdale condo market and Broward home sales trended upward, news broke Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin was resigning his position to work for a law firm that has been called one of the largest foreclosure mills in the state. In national news, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation into the banks’ role in the financial meltdown, and former Wall Street hotshot Raj Rajaratnam was convicted of 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
As these banksters fall behind bars, the smoking gun question remains: Why Wall Street isn’t in jail?
The Good
Sales up and inventories down. On a high note, reports this week are encouraging for Broward County. The Miami Association of Realtors released data that condo sales increased 8 percent from April 2010 to April of this year, while single-family home sales increased by 2 percent. As is the trend for today’s buyer, cash transactions represented 67 percent of April’s residential sales. 60 percent of sales were to overseas buyers, many of whom also paid in cash. The Association also reported inventory levels continue to fall, decreasing 20 percent since May 2010 and 5.1 percent from last month. This contradicts national trends: total housing inventory rose 9.9 percent last month. Condo Vultures adds that the Fort Lauderdale condo market is improving almost at the rate of Miami’s, which until recently was considered an anomaly in today’s market.
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