Just a quick update here…

The beleaguered Florida housing market remains beleaguered, according to an article by Toluse Olorunnipa from yesterday’s Miami Herald.  An amazing 25% of the nation’s foreclosure are in Florida. About 1 in 7 Florida homes with a mortgage was in foreclosure in the fourth quarter of 2010.  Nearly 1 in 5 homes are either in foreclosure or delinquent.

Michael Fratantoni, VP of the Mortgage Bankers Association commented:

“Paperwork issues” is a quaint way of putting it.  Kind of like saying the Titanic had some “buoyancy issues” or that the Hindenburg had some “combustion issues”.  Let’s make no bones about it: what is going on in Florida is an unmitigated disaster.

The same issues that plague the housing market in the country as a whole are present in Florida, except in exacerbated form.  Unemployment in Florida was at 12.0% percent in December (above the national average of 9.0%).  There is a massive supply of unsold homes due to rampant foreclosures, and a feeble demand for said homes due to high unemployment.  Corelogic reports from December showed that 46 percent of Florida homeowners with mortgages are underwater, ensuring that the spate of foreclosures will not end any time soon.

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