40 percent of Florida homes sales are foreclosures

Sales of foreclosed homes in Florida made up nearly 40 percent of all purchases in the first part of this year, a ``terrifying'' statistic, one analyst said, and one that led to deeply discounted prices on distressed properties.

In Miami-Dade County, foreclosure sales made up nearly half -- 47 percent -- of all homes sales in the first five months of 2010, according to a new report from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, which aims to measure foreclosure sales and their impact on home pricing. In Broward County, 46 percent of all homes sales involved distressed properties.

To compare, less than 1 percent of Florida home sales in 2005 were of foreclosed properties, RealtyTrac found.

The report, released Wednesday, defines foreclosure sales as those of homes that are bank owned or where the owners have defaulted on the mortgage and received at least one foreclosure notice. (more)