There are more Florida bank-owned homes for investors and owner-buyers to explore. Aside from the existing inventory of home foreclosures across the state, a total of 17,592 units were added to the combined total of bank-owned residential properties in the first quarter of this year.
Florida was third among U.S. states in number of repossessed homes during the quarter, accounting for more than eight percent of the total bank repossessions nationwide. California again posted the highest, with 39,796 units, accounting for 18.5 percent of the nationwide REO total of 215,046 residential units.
Here’s a list of the states with the highest REOs for the period from January to March this year:
| Name of U.S. State | Number of REOs |
| California | 39,796 |
| Arizona | 18,942 |
| Florida | 17,592 |
| Michigan | 14,498 |
| Texas | 13,894 |
| Georgia | 11,903 |
| Nevada | 9,372 |
| Illinois | 8,086 |
| Ohio | 6,637 |
| Colorado | 5,709 |
Since these properties are foreclosures and since their inventory is high, they are being priced low to attract buyers, especially investors who buy houses in bulk for rentals or for future resale.
In South Florida, the prices of bottom-tier foreclosures have dropped by 32.6 percent to $64,100 on average in the past 12 months. For all types of homes, sellers have been giving discounts of up to 48 percent, giving unique opportunities to those with cash to grab these properties or to those who are able to obtain mortgage loan commitments quickly.
According to Zillow, the home value index in the counties of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward has dropped to $137,300 in the first quarter this year, down by 12.8 percent from the first quarter last year. The drop rate was more substantial than the national decline rate, which was 8.2 percent to an index of $169,600.
Based on reports released by the National Association of Realtors, the median price for single family homes in the first quarter fell by 4.6 percent over the year to $158,700 while the median for condos fell more sharply by 10.4 percent to $152,900. Certainly, the high inventory of low-priced home foreclosures pushed average and median home prices down.
In major metro areas in Florida, these are the median prices in the first quarter, according to NAR:
| Florida Metro Area | Median Home Price in $ | Percent of Y-O-Y Drop |
| Miami | 153,600 | 19.7 |
| Ocala | 75,400 | 18.8 |
| Palm Bay | 89,500 | 15.8 |
| Tampa | 113,600 | 15.2 |
| Tallahassee | 133,600 | 13.5 |
| Sarasota | 147,100 | 12.2 |
| Jacksonville | 127,400 | 9.5 |
| Orlando | 119,700 | 7.6 |
In Tampa, bank-owned homes can be explored with help from friendly real estate professionals such as the Tampa4U.com realtors.