Homes in the state rose during the second quarter of the year

It has been revealed that house prices in South Florida have risen by 6.4% during the second quarter of 2012, with experts forecasting that a similar rise of around 6% could be expected by the same time next year.

The report, which was issued by Zillow, details the rise and has prompted the Florida International University to call the leap “dramatic”.  The rise in values makes Southern Florida the second highest achiever when compared to the 150 metro areas that were measured in the online real estate database.  Phoenix was the number one performer, seeing rises of a staggering 12%, with another 9.9% growth forecasted for the next 12 months for the capital of Arizona.

Speaking about the report, a senior economist for Zillow, Svenja Gudell, said: “We've been saying that Phoenix and South Florida have surprised us because they hit a bottom and shot right back up. It was a V-shaped recovery.”

The median value of single-family homes now stands at $145,000 during the second quarter of 2012, which represents a rise of nearly 3% when compared to the start of the year and jump of 1.8% when compared to the same period in 2011.

Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, added: "The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own. After four months with rising home values and increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a bottom.”

A real estate economist from the Florida International University added that the property in South Florida is “significantly undervalued in the county at present.”