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Foreclosed home listings continue to hammer most of Florida's markets, but a few are reportedly showing signs of growth and improvement. In areas popular for being vacation hotspots, wealthy property buyers are reportedly making a comeback as they take advantage of heavily discounted prices among vacation homes and condominium units.

Foreclosure listings in Miami and distressed property numbers in majority of Florida areas continue to depress prices and the overall housing industry. However, in areas like Naples, buyers of vacation or second homes have left the sidelines and have now entered the real estate buying market. The improvement in Naples started last year, analysts have reported, when sales of houses increased by 10%, giving the region its first sales increase in five years.

Although properties in Florida foreclosure listings still account for a huge percentage of total sales in most markets; in vacation hotspots like Naples, more expensive homes are selling faster, with median prices for houses priced at least $300,000 recording a jump of 4%, according to reports from the Naples Area Board of Realtors. Real estate agents in the region also reported that almost 50% of for-sale dwellings in the metro area are accounted for by second houses or vacation homes. The price difference between last year and the 2006 peak price period was around 25%.

Housing analysts explained that, although foreclosed home listings will continue to be top sellers in most of the state's markets for another year, areas of Florida where the affluent usually go will be the most likely to recover first. They stated that wealth usually determines the condition of the housing market and regions like Naples are where the rich usually goes for vacations.

Meanwhile, it is not only Naples' more expensive housing segment that is outpacing repo homes listings, but also most of the resort towns in the state. According to realtors, sales of existing homes in areas like West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Jupiter have increased by 32%, while condominium sales jumped by 40% in February of this year compared with year-ago levels. Market analysts believe that part of the reason for the surge in sales in these markets is the strong performance of stocks and the decision of the administration not to implement tax hikes.

Meanwhile, others believe that the cold weather in the Midwest have encouraged a lot of vacation home hunters to seek properties in Florida. Analysts also stated that they will not be surprised if prices of houses in Florida outpace the nationwide rate in 2011 despite the huge amount of foreclosed home listings in the region.

Sales of non-foreclosed single family dwellings and residential properties under foreclosure listings for sale surged in Miami, Florida, last year. However, selling prices dropped for both the full 2010 period and for the month of December.

The number of houses under foreclosure listings in Miami and non-foreclosed single family residences that were sold in 2010 totaled 7,308, representing a 9% jump from 2009 levels when 6,685 single family housing units were sold. However, median selling prices dropped by 3% from $195,300 in 2009 to $189,400 in 2010. The same trend happened for December, with sales rising and median prices declining.

Majority of foreclosure lists in Florida and non-foreclosed residential markets enjoyed stronger sales in 2010 compared with year-ago levels. For December 2010, single family residential property sales in Miami increased by 18%, posting a sales total of 734. December 2009 sales totaled 623. The median selling price of houses during the month was pegged at $173,600, down 15% from December 2009 when median rate was at $204,300.

The rest of South Florida experienced higher sales of non-foreclosed homes and houses under foreclosure listings for sale during 2010, except for Fort Lauderdale. West Palm Beach recorded a full year 10% jump in sales, totaling 9,584 from the 2009 total of 8,684. Median rate also dropped in the county, with selling prices declining by 4% from $239,000 in 2009 to $228,900 last year.

In Fort Lauderdale, sales of properties under bank foreclosure listings and single family dwellings from non-foreclosure markets declined by 9% in 2010 to reach a sales total of 7,997. In 2009, housing unit sales totaled 8,816, with median selling prices pegged at $206,500. Median rate for 2010 declined slightly compared with 2009 prices, with year-over-year median price difference at around $400. Statewide, sales of existing homes, including foreclosed properties, increased by 5% compared with year-ago levels, with median selling prices dropping by 4% over the same period.

Analysts stated that sales of properties under foreclosure listings for sale and dwellings in non-foreclosed markets will likely continue to improve in 2011, mainly because of projected growth in job markets. They added that buyers and investors will gain more confidence this year owing to a much better national economy.

More and more homes priced between $4 million and $7 million are being sold at foreclosed homes auctions because they are not getting sold through regular channels, according to Jim Gall, head of Auction Company of America.

During the boom years, high-end homes were also sold at auctions, but the prices remained close to their original purchase prices, unlike these days when auctioned homes are getting sold at bargain prices. Also, in the boom years, publicity strategies were effective in bringing moneyed buyers to auctions.

In 2007, Sky Sotheby’s International auctioned off at the same time 20 luxury homes in Sarasota with an average price of $3.5 million. Chad Roffers, then the head of Sky Sotheby’s, said the auction of large numbers of luxury homes was not usually done.

The collapse of the housing market and the continued decline in home prices have forced owners of high-end homes to turn to auctions to sell their homes as they are pressured by the courts or their creditors.

In July, Concierge Auctions auctioned off 4 high-end distressed homes in Florida, including a $5.9 million eight-bedroom Ponte Vedra waterfront home which had been languishing in the market for two years.

Alan Kravets, head of auction company Sheldon Good, said he has been getting a lot of calls from residents of affluent communities such as Palm Beach, Aspen and the Hamptons. He added he has sold homes priced between $2 million and $5 million through auctions for owners who were not able to sell them.

To increase the chances of high-end homes getting sold at auctions, some auction firms market their auction as absolute auction, which means minimum bids are not set and the sellers agree to accept the highest bid, even if it is extremely low.

Auction Company of America applied the absolute auction strategy when it auctioned off the multimillion-dollar home of businessman Jack Warner on Little Torch Key.

Warner, now 61, bought the home in 1993. With a pool and clear views of Florida Bay, it was appraised in 2007 for almost $14 million. When his Indiana construction business closed and his Florida property investment firm became bankrupt, he was forced to ask help from the auction company to sell his home after failing to sell it at $5.9 million.

Warner hoped the selling price would exceed $3 million so he could pay all his remaining mortgage loans, but he silently accepted his fate when the final bid was only $2.5 million.

Both Pasco County and Pinellas County in Florida have jointly applied for a total of $50 million federal grant for the second round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Pasco originally plans to use the federal money to buy and rehabilitate properties on foreclosure listing.

Because legislators in Florida have not passed significant laws to help facilitate the implementation of the Obama administration’s government foreclosures program, judges in several circuit courts in the state have taken the initiative to decongest the courts of foreclosure cases and at the same time help distressed homeowners.

Pre-foreclosure listings provider Default Research’s data showed that the total count of homeowners who received foreclosure filings in counties of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade increased by just below one percent in February 2009.

Troubled homeowners in Florida who are having problems with their mortgages received an early holiday present in the form of a 45-day moratorium on foreclosures for the length of the holiday season. Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced the news after banks and credit unions gave their support for the moratorium.

Closely following the state of Nevada in terms of foreclosure rate, Florida is certainly getting pummeled and beaten by the crisis in the housing industry. According to reports released by RealtyTrac, the Sunshine State leapfrogged ahead of California and Arizona based on its month-over-month foreclosure activity, placing it at the #2 spot. Compared to last August, Florida foreclosure listings has increased by 9 percent.

With home rates in Florida plummeting, thanks to the increasing number of Florida foreclosure listings, people wanting to but their first homes and investors alike, see this as a good time to get good deals on properties. Auctions on properties that have been foreclosed by banks are known to provide the buyers with opportunities to buy at well below the market price; this is mainly because lenders are not very keen on hanging on to the foreclosed properties.