Condo Vultures: "Bad Times Are Still Ahead"

Bal Harbour-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures has crunched the numbers on 2008 sales of distressed housing stock in South Florida and -- surprise, surprise -- the picture is ugly. The average homeowner in the tri-county area had to slash their sale price by 43%, or $323,784, to unload a property.

• The Broward neighborhood with the steepest discounts was Oakland Park, where sellers cut prices by 45.9%
• The biggest price drops in Palm Beach County (and second-biggest in South Florida) were in Hypoluxo, where the average home sale came with a 48.4% savings
• Property owners in Fort Lauderdale shed 208 holdings at an average discount of 41%
• Hallandale Beach had 138 sales at 45% off
• There were 105 deals in Hollywood with an average price cut of 43%
• Just 13 properties sold in Boca Raton, albeit with prices slashed by an average of 49%

Condo Vultures tracks single-family homes, townhouses and condos east of I-95 that have sat on the market for more than 100 days OR that have had at least 10 percent and/or $100,000 knocked off their initial list prices.

Not depressed enough? Keep reading past the jump.

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures tells Juice that 2009 looks to be almost as bad, if not worse, than 2008 for folks trying to sell real estate in South Florida. The devastation in Miami-Dade's condo market has led lenders to blacklist all three counties. Cash buyers, meanwhile, are starting to cherry pick properties in Miami -- but not Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"Broward and Palm Beach are getting hammered. If you're in Broward or Palm Beach, bad times are still ahead," Zalewski says. "If you're in Miami, you're probably near the bottom."  

Great.