Florida was Bellwether of Housing Bubble and Collapse but Not of the Recovery
Texas and South Carolina lead the country in new home sales. Florida new construction is growing but continues to compete with the high number of distressed properties still available.
Palm Coast, FL – May 14, 2013 – Increases in both home sale prices and new home construction signal a strengthening economy but growth is not occurring evenly throughout the U.S. according the May “Market Pulse” released today by CoreLogic. Texas and South Carolina lead the new home construction boom while Florida’s new residential construction growth continues to compete with a large (but shrinking) inventory of distressed properties.
Both Texas and South Carolina benefit from strong employment growth and immigration. Florida is not well represented on the list of major metropolitan areas with the most home sales (Orlando is 10th) or the highest percentage of total home sales comprised of new home sales (Jacksonville in 10th).
32 percent of Florida’s March home sales were distressed. The top 25 national metropolitan areas’ average was 21.8 percent. Distressed homes made up 39 percent of Flagler County existing single-family home sales in April.
On mortgage performance, the CoreLogic report say, “While the number of mortgages that are seriously delinquent (SDQ, defined as 90 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure or REO) remains high, there are significant improvements. At the end of March 2913, there were 2.4 million mortgages, or 6.1 percent, in SDQ. On a year-over-year basis, the number of mortgages in SDQ decreased by 17 percent, marking the third straight month of year-over-year declines of at least 16 percent.”
“The inventory of foreclosed homes continues its rapid decline – there were 1.1 million homes in some stage of foreclosure as of March 1013, 23 percent less than a year ago. The year-over-year decrease in foreclosure inventory is the largest the country has experienced since January 2000 and marks the sixth straight month of double-digit year-over-year decreases.”
Local stats:
Flagler County single-family homes:
In my opinion, the Palm Coast/Flagler market is on the verge of significant gains.
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