First-timers are back in the condo market in Miami, helping push that market back into the black with a 25 percent jump in sales comparing March 2008 to March 2009, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

Realtors are touting the rush on their blogs statewide, noting that many of the deals are cash-backed. “In the past 4 months we have had clients with as little as $35,000 to over $3 million paying cash for Miami properties,” blogs Katerina Brosda of Brosda and Bentley Realtors in Miami. “Jade Beach in Sunny isles Beach for example is over 65 percent closed with very few new homeowners having applied for a mortgage to close on their new condo.”

FAR reports “15 of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing-home sales in March and 13 MSAs also showed gains in condo sales. It marks the ninth consecutive month that a majority of markets have reported increased sales.” Prices have dropped about 30 percent over the same time a year ago, which has drawn in purchasers from all angles of the market – first-timers, move-up and investors.

Brosda notes: “In our market, 30 percent of all purchases are first-time home buyers. Housing has become affordable and many household realize that this might be the last time in our generation that we will see home prices that low.”