September 12, 2007

Florida - the historic epicenter of real estate booms and busts


What is it about Florida that lends itself to real estate booms, scams and crashes?

Florida 1925:

The Great Florida Land Bush

There was plenty of evidence that the Florida Land Boom was on swampy ground. Forbes magazine warned that Florida land prices were based solely upon the expectation of finding a customer, not upon any reality of land value. New York bankers, losing money over Florida investment, attacked the entire operation as one great sham. By 1925, there were other signs. Companies were laying off construction and other blue collar workers while the number of realtors and auto mechanics was still increasing.

Florida 2007:

Boom of condo crash loudest in Miami

Orlando and other Florida cities -- Naples, Fort Myers, Tampa and Sarasota among them -- also have huge condo gluts. With 4,440 condos listed for sale, Orlando has an unprecedented 29-month supply, and last month sales plummeted 64 percent lower than a year ago.

But Miami, with its unmatched volume and untold number of speculative buyers, is ripe for the hardest fall in the U.S.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Florida like Arizona and Nevada is full of conmen and swindlers looking to get rich quick

Anonymous said...

Its the weather stupid!

Anonymous said...

it's the sunshine, in the north-- people get depressed w/o it and-- in the south, people just get too giddy.

Anonymous said...

It has to do with the lost island of Atlantis.

Anonymous said...

When the state of Florida is underwater, this will all have seemed so unbelievably silly

Anonymous said...

I live here and it's unbelievable people have no idea what's going on. As long as the weather is nice then everything is fine!

Paige Turner said...

RE: What is it about Florida that lends itself to real estate booms, scams and crashes?


Florida has always attracted dreamers. First, it was Juan Ponce de León, searching for The Fountain of Youth. He never found it.

Then came the 1920s real estate speculators, followed by a spectacular crash. Now we are seeing the an even bigger Florida real estate bubble bursting

It appears that Florida will always be a magnet for those who fantasize that they can get rich quick by gambling on real estate.

Unfortunately, Orlando-Disney World is currently the best fantasy Florida has to offer.

V.L

Anonymous said...

29 month supply!

gregoryw said...

I'd pay up to half a mil to live near the fountain of youth. Is this Ponce de Lion building homes near it? Because that's better than living near whole foods. Maybe if the builder put "future site of the fountain of youth" on the site plan then I'd buy it as an investment.

Anonymous said...

IF you lived in England's lousey wx, or in any of the many places around the world with equally pitiful climates, YOU would be desperate to fall for the FL myth of dream wx also.

Until you vacation in Sarasota in August that is.

Anonymous said...

.


Hey! I can see my house from here.