Sales for condos dropped 46 percent in Broward and 40 percent in Miami-Dade compared to September last year. They also went down from a month earlier, by 12 percent in Miami-Dade and 8 percent in Broward...For houses, sales were down 12 percent for Miami-Dade and 24 percent for Broward from a year ago. But the picture was brighter when compared to August: Sales were up 10 percent in Miami-Dade and 5 percent in Broward....No end in sight to housing slowdown, Matthew Haggman, Miami Herald, 10/25/2006
If you have family or friends in Florida, you know that any living space within sight of the Gulf, the Caribbean, or the Atlantic was rising so fast in price that investors were buying them by the handful. Developers were putting up thousands of condo apartments on spec. Prices on St. Pete Beach rose 50% in 18 months. Why don't people pay attention? Somebody's already guessed. People love to gamble, whether the game is on a track, on a video screen, or in a real estate agent's office. More issues are involved here, of course, not the least of them the relentless use of eminent domain by local and county governments to take "poor" properties so that developers could make them "rich" properties. But, as an old craps shooter used to tell me, it's when you're on a hot streak that it's time to get out of the game. In Florida, those who have left the housing market, which in a marvelous perversity has become a means to take poor people's property in order to impoverish rich investors, may now comfortably invest in something besides empty condos. Though this looks like a local balloon popping, it could be a sign of something far worse (or better, if you've already paid off your house, or sold it).
Luther
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