TR-HNR-June-July-2019

MARKET & TRENDS

FLORIDA SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight: Florida

IS FLORIDA AT RISK FOR ANOTHER REAL ESTATE CRISIS?

by Joel Cone

ot all that long ago, a combination of risky loans and overzealous speculation by real estate inves- tors and developers hit Florida harder than many other parts of the nation, turning it into one of the poster chil- dren for the housing crisis that followed. During its darkest hour, the number of properties with foreclosure filings in the state went from more than 75,000 in 2006 to nearly 517,000 in 2009 (an almost 600 percent increase in just three years), according to data provided by ATTOM Data Solutions. More than a decade later, a lot has changed with the Sunshine State. For one, the annual total number of properties with foreclosure filings has dropped precipi- tously to just over 65,000 in both 2017 and 2018. N

But despite those falling numbers, the state has continuously led the nation in total properties with fore- closure filings since 2013. Additionally, Florida ranked the sixth highest foreclosure rate in the nation at one in every 140 households for all of 2018, ATTOM reported. Still, both population and job growth are expected to continue while the risk of a recession sometime in 2019 is considered to be low, according to a forecast earlier this year by the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Unemployment, which rose to as high as 11.2 percent in November 2009, is now hovering near historic lows at 3.5 percent projected for February 2019 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “All the economic indicators are pointing in the right

72 | think realty housing news report :: june / july 2019

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