For builders like Silvio Cardoso, it's a big headache. Like so many suburban developers, he flocked to the expansive, agricultural lands in South Dade hoping to create Miami's new bedroom communities when the housing boom stirred earlier this decade. He launched two projects around Homestead, Riviera Grand Estates and Santa Barbara of Homestead.

Today, said Cardoso, president of United Homes, ``It's basically impossible to sell anything.''At the end of March, there were 65 percent more homes listed for sale in Miami-Dade's southern reaches than in the urban core, according to a study by real estate analyst Craig Werley.

And nearly nine out of every 10 sales in Homestead are distressed -- either banks selling foreclosed properties at rock-bottom prices or short sales, in which the lender allows the home to be sold for less than is owed on the mortgage.

For South Florida as a whole, the number is 60 percent.To some housing experts, the numbers indicate a shift.''We are seeing the limits of sprawl,'' said real estate analyst Michael Cannon.