South Florida’s real estate market continues to steadily improve, and is now approaching a benchmark range that indicates, according to a Freddie Mac report released just before Christmas in 2014. The counties of Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade scored a 72 out of 100 on Freddie Mac’s October 2014 Multi-Indicator Market Index. This score is an improvement of 12.5 over 2013, and ranks behind only the growth level in Las Vegas (23.84 percent) and in Chicago (13.38 percent).
This index score reflects a 70 percent improvement over the last five years in South Florida’s housing market. The index measures four variables to determine the score. These include affordability, employment, home loan applications, and mortgage loan delinquencies. Much of the area’s growth relates to good employment prospects and low levels of mortgage delinquency. An index score of 80 or better is favorable, and a score of 100 is perfect. Florida last achieved a score of 80 in August 2008, as the housing market plummeted across the Sunshine State as the nation sank into the Great Recession. For more information on the index rankings, continue reading here.
Early in 2015, Florida officially passed New York to become the nation’s third-largest state relating to population, and an additional 800 people relocate to Florida every day. The state’s sustained population growth is good for the economy and the real estate market. When comparing private sector growth among the biggest states, Florida’s 3.4 percent increase in 2014 ranked second (Texas finished first). Also, Florida’s labor force is growing more than four times the national average rate of growth. Due to competitive mortgage rates and strong job growth, 2015 is forecast to finish even stronger for Florida than 2014. For more information on forecasts regarding Florida’s housing and jobs market in 2015, continue reading here.
