Miami Foreclosure Homes, Unemployment Rising
August 24th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
The real estate landscape in the city of Miami in Florida is dotted with foreclosure properties for several years now. And with the continues increase in unemployment rate across Florida, industry experts feared that more Miami foreclosure homes would burden the real estate market in the area.
In July, the two-digit unemployment rate in Miami-Dade settled at 11 percent, the first since 1983. According to industry experts, the increase in the region’s unemployment rate could dampen whatever progress the fragile housing market has made towards its recovery.
Not only will the rising unemployment rate affect the housing market in Miami-Dade but also the entire South Florida. Market data showed that sales of condominiums and houses in the region increased significantly last month, compared with the previous year.
Industry experts said that the housing market is trying to stabilize and strengthen itself. However, outside pressures, such as foreclosures and unemployment, are trying to destroy whatever improvements the market has made.
For the first seven months of this year, median home prices in the region continues to linger at the bottom. Despite the below market prices of properties, sales failed to make a remarkable upturn as the growing unemployment prevented many people from taking advantage of low market prices.
Furthermore, an increasing number of homeowners who lost their jobs or saw their work hours cut short for less pay could not keep up with their mortgage payments and most ended in foreclosures, thus adding to the already burgeoning number of foreclosure properties on the market.
This indicated that South Florida will lag behind with other states in terms of economic recovery. The jobless rate in Miami-Dade reached 11.1 percent, compared with 8.2 percent in April. This means that about 37,000 people lost their jobs from April to July.
Industry experts pointed out that the future of the real estate industry and the local economy will largely depend on what will happen in the job market. So far, they have not notice any sign that the unemployment rate would decline, particularly in Miami, whereas nationally, jobless rate has started to drop, albeit at a slow pace.
But some experts showed optimism by predicting that the unemployment rate in Miami-Dade will soon reach its peak, adding that the recent increase was due to the credit crunch and weakness in world economies.
