While South Florida, especially Miami, often see housing affordability as a cause for concern, the issue is spreading around Florida in just the opposite way. Critical Florida areas have now been identified for being at risk for dramatic home price declines.
With reports anticipating a housing crash for Florida in 2023 circulating rampantly, some major hot spots with high populations of Floridians may soon experience a sharp devaluation in their homes. CoreLogic Home Price Index uses decades worth of data to track the developments in the real estate market and considers other factors delayed mortgage payments and income growth.
The numbers from CoreLogic suggest that the most at risk Florida areas include Lakeland, Winter Haven, North Port, Sarasota, Bradenton, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Port Saint Lucie. However, local realtors do not exactly agree with the projections that corroborate what so many fear.
John Harbuck, a realtor in Winter Park appeared on Wesh 2 News to defend what him and his firm saw developing in communities like Orange County, "I don't think we have much to worry about, Harbuck said. "So the inventory came up a bit, but home prices do not seem to be on the decline."
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune corroborates this somewhat positive outlook after they reported data that showed a 1.4% increase in Florida home values from May of 2022.
Whether housing is heading towards a grim future or not, experts believe that houses are still overvalued, even if prices drop. Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., an economist in FAU’s College of Business stated, "Florida is so overvalued almost certainly because of the increased demand to live here combined with a shortage of available housing units. There are just not enough roofs to go around, given our population and Florida’s stature as a prime destination.”
