How did the recession hit different areas of Florida?
The "Great Recession" that took hold of the United States in 2007 and 2008 did not hit uniformly across the entire state of Florida. Some counties saw dramatic declines in housing values while others were more successful at maintaining the high price levels that have traditionally characterized Sunshine State real estates. For investors, this means that some places in Florida offer substantial potential for property value increases in the future, particularly now that a real recovery is already underway in major areas of the state.
South-western Florida
The city of Tampa, located in Hillsborough County, has long been a popular destination for second homebuyers because of its ready proximity to both Tampa Bay and the vast Gulf of Mexico. Where once the Tampa area was being cited as having the third most severe recession in the nation, it now is experiencing such a strong recovery that the county features a mere three-month inventory of houses available for sale.
As real estate investors know, low inventory levels are associated with prices on the rise.
A normal housing market is generally characterized by inventory levels projected to last for six months if no new homes come onto the market. With only half that number of houses available, property in and around Tampa appears poised for a significant jump in price.
Home values in the metropolitan Tampa region increased almost half a percentage point from July to August 2012, with the average home worth $108,000 by mid-August.
South-eastern Florida
Several areas in south-eastern Florida currently present property investors with outstanding values. The three southern-most counties on the peninsula's Atlantic coastline, Miami-Dad, Broward, and Palm Beach still feature homes, condominiums, and other properties priced at half their lifetime peak values, which were typically reached in December 2006. Investors, of course, know that low prices only represent a bargain if they are slated to rise over time. This is the case in all three of these counties, where home values over the past few months have shown slow but steady increases, suggesting that the market has stabilized and is once again highly investor-friendly.
The average house price in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in August 2012 was $145,000, which represents a 3.8% increase over the previous year.
Central and North-eastern Florida
The Orlando region of the state, world-famous for being the home of Disney World, is experiencing one of the strongest recoveries in all of Florida, taking on a "muscular role" helping to pull the entire state towards a healthy economic future. According to the latest monthly jobs report, almost half of all new jobs in the state were created in Orlando. Since workers need places to live, these jobs numbers translate into increased demand for housing.
The area around Jacksonville is also beginning a housing recovery as evidenced both by median price levels and by housing starts. North-eastern prices reached a low in January 2012 but have since climbed upward. Building permits for the construction of single-family dwellings hit an all-time low a year earlier but are now showing a steady trend toward recovery.
These trends are good news for investors, but not only because of financial considerations.
The areas of Florida beginning a strong recovery are precisely those places that offer outstanding lifestyle and entertainment value for homeowners, making properties there a good buy in several respects at once.
